Place to Try
by SpinLord
Summary: He chose to forget. That's all. He never thought that Frederica would send him and Kurama to some place that is supposed to be the Afterlife. First thing that happened to him was to wake up and find a silver-haired girl fighting a whole battlefront. Damn, and he thought his world was crazy... New Chapter series, part 1. Pairings: Naruto x Yuri, Yuzuru x Kanade, etc. -New Chapter-
1. Prologue

I forgot to tell you that I have gained an author-related ability upgrade before, which involved a different type of line breaks. As a result, now I can un-bold my ANs :D EPIC!

Okay, enough of my useless ranting. This fic is a crossover, included in the "New Chapter" series that branch off from my earlier fic, which is called "A Whole New World, Prequel to a New Chapter". If you want to read this, you better read that fic first to avoid misinterpretation and confusion. Why? Because risking your brain to read a crossover without any knowledge basis on the series itself is too mainstream.

Anyone who might think "Why the branch series are called New Chapter"? That is purely because of lack of creativity. Seriously, I've been thinking up a good name for the series, but I haven't had the epiphany :S Well, anyway, let's start off this fic right now!

Naruto: Dude, what's gotten into you?

Me: This, Naruto, is what I would call the AA syndrome.

Naruto: Anti-Air syndrome?

Me: The Author Anxiety syndrome -_- seriously, do you have anything in that thick skull of yours? Guess not.

Naruto: YOU WANNA PIECE OF ME?!

Me: No, I want you to read the damn disclaimer. And don't you dare say no, because Noda was kind enough to lend me his halberd right over here (holds up Noda's halberd).

Naruto: Who the FUCK is Noda?

Me: Read the disclaimer and find out yourself.

Naruto: Grr…fine!  
Disc,: SpinLord doesn't own the me or characters from "Angel Beats!". The characters from the Naruto franchise is not his, either, but he's still a cruel, corrupt author who likes to steal chara—

Me: DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE X100! (swings halberd continuously at Naruto)

Naruto: GYAAAA!

**-xo-**

_When one chose to forget,  
he shall seek contentment.  
SpinLord presents  
_**Place to Try  
**_A Naruto-Angel Beats crossover_

**-xo-**

**-Prologue-**

Naruto's Choice: To Start Anew

Given a choice, a human would choose the one that benefits them the most. That is simple human logic; it doesn't matter if it sounded selfish. Frankly, that is quite understandable if you are presented with that freedom to choose; hence, Naruto's condition now.

The smirking, blue-haired girl in front of her, whose name is Frederica Bernkastel—who coincidentally happened to be a Saint of Time and Space—gave him three choices; three paths for him to choose. On second thought, though, he surmised that all she was giving him were start points for paths that he himself should carve by his own. Now, here laid the problem; of course, in every choices, the hardest part of it was to actually choose.

Like explained before, human beings are selfish. They have this endless greed for having all the things in the world, and possibly the otherworld as well. For a human, choosing one option while letting the other go isn't as easy as it is made to sound like, because it left them with the feeling of regret for not choosing the other. This was also one of the speculations of why techniques like _Kagebunshin no Jutsu_ (Shadow Clone Jutsu) and the Uchiha Clan's _Mangekyou_ _Sharingan:_ _Izanagi_ were considered as forbidden techniques. It is because they feed off people's greed, while in turn giving that greed something like a growth serum. Greedy people might use these techniques to take on more than one path. In turn, that action would make their greed grow and made them determined to take even more paths than their previous attempts.

In truth, they were just afraid of making the wrong choices.

Uzumaki Naruto was not greedy. Despite the fact that he held mastery over the _Kagebunshin no Jutsu,_ he had no interest in using it for his own personal , he was also aware of the weight of choice that he was presented with. Unlike the greedy people which were aforementioned…all Naruto lacked was the decisive attitude in making a choice.

Not anymore.

"Rika-chan…" Naruto uttered, never really getting the hang of saying her name properly. His voice was steady, unwavering. Unlike before, he was now ready to choose. And unlike before, he is not afraid of the consequences. "I've made up my mind."

"That is relieving. What, pray tell, is your decision then?" Frederica asked, her smirk dissolving into a smile as she waited for Naruto's answer. This time, however, she knew that she didn't have to wait too long.

"I…" A slight sense of hesitation entered Naruto's mind, which was kicked out the very moment it entered by a more powerful determination. He can't back down; not now, never will. "I choose to forget."

Silence fell upon them, leaving Naruto's echoing throughout the endless space they were currently in. None of the people present dared to disturb the silence, letting it span even further. Finally, Frederica piped up with a light-sounding voice, "I see." At her mental command, the Orbs of Time in her hands began to move. Two of them dispersing—flying away at moderate speeds—going back to where they were before they were summoned. _'She might have a library filled with those things.'_ Naruto thought, sweat-dropping at the image which his mind conjured up. His eyes eventually fell on the lone orb that was still hovering on Frederica's hand.

'_I never thought that this would be his choice…'_ the girl thought, her dark blue hair—to note, it looked more indigo in dark places like the one she was in right now—waving as she cast a look on the two orbs that flew away. Her attention then fell to the orb in her hand, _'This is…universal code: Angel Beats. Of all worlds that should fit the criteria…'_

"May I ask what made you choose to forget about your memories of the past?" Frederica asked curiously.

"It's…it's not that I actually want to, if you're thinking like that." Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head uncertainly, "It's just that…I think it's probably high time I put that life to rest."

"Hm…that is a wise reasoning. However, I still don't see what made you think like that." The blue-haired girl pushed on, "I am not criticizing you. But I am curious as to how you achieved the strength to move on from your past. Aren't those memories precious to you? Aren't your friends worth remembering? Is your dream not worth achieving anymore that you chose to forget about it?" she let her words sink into Naruto's mind. She waved her free hand, gesturing for Naruto to relax when she saw him tensing up at her words. "Questions like that roam my mind as it is now. These aren't riddles that I want you to solve; I am merely curious about it, that's all."

Naruto laughed lightly at Frederica's questions, which sounded more like she was accusing him. It didn't unsettle him, though; he had prepared himself with an answer. "It's nothing like that." He said, still chuckling slightly between his words, "Yes, these memories are precious to me. And I won't ever forget about my friends. About me being Hokage? It's still my dream, and nobody's gonna say otherwise!"

He paused. He realized that he wanted to say more, and at the sight of Frederica's inquisitive stare he willingly continued, "Even so…I don't think living for the past will do me any good. Sure, it hurts to forget about them, but eventually I will have to forget anyway. I'm already dead, after all. Even if I want to remember them, keeping these memories to myself is damn selfish."

Frederica nodded at the blond, understanding his reasoning more and more. "I see…so, you're willing to give these memories to _Shippuden_?" That is a very noble decision, according to what her mind interpreted. Of course, it was expected, given who she was talking to. Even Naruto's alter-selves, who preceded Naruto's arrival to this dimension, gave their memories willingly.

Seeing the blond grinning widely at her, she was fighting hard against the urge to grin just as wide. Naruto's wide grin then fell to a simple smile as he continued talking, "Yeah. I kind of figured that since I'm dead, my world's memories are better off being used by another person. I mean, dead people don't have uses for their dead world's memories, right? After all, maybe by doing this, _Shippuden_ will be able to avoid the same fate that my world got." He chuckled, "In the end, maybe I'm just looking for atonement, but this is the least I can do."

Frederica gave a chuckle herself, and that put the blond at ease knowing that she was convinced. However, the lack of response from the other occupant currently occupying the dimension made him turn around and look at said occupant with a curious pair of eyes. That person—taller in stature but also having the same facial features as him—is none other than the Bijuu once sealed in his stomach; the Nine-Tailed Fox demon, Kurama. Though, the current Kurama is more of an eye-candy than a demonic fox; given how his human-like form looks like, it was only fair to give him such a credit.

To be honest, Naruto was a bit jealous that Kurama's looks had beaten his—and the blond was the real human out of the two!

"Kurama…" Hesitantly, Naruto muttered. He felt a bit guilty for choosing without Kurama's agreement. Of course, with him having his life connected to Naruto, Kurama should follow the blond wherever he would go. Only…since their life is connected, Naruto should've asked the orange-haired man-fox's thoughts about this matter. Even if they already had an understanding of each other, that doesn't mean every thought they share is simpatico. (Err…is simpatico the right word?)

Kurama actually chuckled at Naruto's look, "Keh…what's with the long face, brat?" he closed his eyes and smirked, subconsciously printing Naruto's stupidly worried face in his mind. Oh, he would totally blackmail that yellow-head with this!

"…" Naruto's answer was to be silent as he waited for another retort from Kurama. When none came, he took the opportunity to open the conversation, "I know how you feel about this. Honestly, I don't think you would agree with me on this since I know that these memories are precious to you, too. But…I'm doing this for both of our sakes, as well!"

Kurama raised an eyebrow. He tilted his head questioningly at Naruto, eyeing him curiously. "Really? You know how I feel about this?" he asked, gaining a nod from his former jailor. Then, Kurama laughed aloud and surprised the blond by the suddenness of the laugh. "Kuh…Hahahahaha! By _Kami_, I never thought that I would meet an idiot like you in my entire life!"

"WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT SUPPOSE TO MEAN?!" Naruto yelled, gaining a tick mark on his temple while his hand rose in front of his face in the shape of a closed fist.

"Brat…" Kurama interjected calmly, stopping Naruto's angry tirade on him, "You should realize by now that what you ASSUMED you know is wrong."

While Naruto was a little peeved to hear that he was wrong (he noticed his lack of intelligence, but does it hurt NOT to mention it from time to time?), he felt like he needed to know just what he said wrong. "Then…how do you really feel?"

"How do I really feel, huh?" Kurama parroted. He chuckled before baring his teeth in a smirk towards Naruto, "Right now, you should be able to realize that you have my support on whatever choice you make."

Naruto blinked owlishly after hearing the statement. _'It can't be that simple…'_ he thought suspiciously. If he knew Kurama (which he felt he does), then there should be some kind of condition regarding whatever deal that they make. He was the Nine-Tailed Fox, after all. Foxes are the symbol of mischief and trickery, so put two and two together and you would know that this win-win situation is absolutely rare. "Just like that? You would just accept it without any rejection, just like that?" Naruto questioned, feeling confused by Kurama's strange statement.

"Is it so surprising?" Kurama asked back, "All I'm doing is following my instincts like I always did. Hell, even if I'm not, I know that we can't go separate ways. You, of all people, should realize that."

"Wait, we can't?" Naruto exclaimed in confusion, "Why can't we?"

"Isn't it obvious? Our lives are connected ever since you became my Jinchûriki." Kurama answered. He sighed tiredly, "Seriously, I thought you could figure that out yourself."

"But…doesn't that mean I'm literally robbing your freedom?" Naruto's face turned a bit sad at the revelation. He had never thought that even Kurama's life was bound to his, and as such they would have to latch onto each other just to stay alive. However, the downside to that is all for Kurama, because he was the one who had to follow Naruto around just because Naruto is the one who reigned supreme over the prison that is his own body. Frankly, it all sounded too unfair.

Kurama's next words that came out of his grinning mouth froze the blond in place, "So what if it does?"

"...w-what?" Naruto was beginning to doubt his ears. Did something damage them? Or maybe the Juubi's roar was really that deafening.

"I said, so what if it does?" Kurama said again, chuckling mirthfully. "To be honest, I don't care whether if I can't choose for myself, or if I am robbed of that freedom." He stepped forward towards Naruto, towering over the blond by his obviously taller stature. A smirk was placed on his face; the smirk was one of sincerity, strangely enough. "As long as it is you...as long as you're the one who chooses the path we should go on, then I will follow you regardless."

A jaw was nearly unhinged...and that was Naruto's jaw.

People usually has many disbeliving moments. Like, for instance, when a religious part of your family tells you that this time tomorrow will be doomsday. Sometimes, it's really that shocking. Or perhaps, it's just something as simple as when your neighbour tells you that a dog you own shits on their lawn. Simple as it is, you wouldn't expect it happening on a normal day.

Kurama was like that, in a way. Well, no, he didn't shit on anybody's lawn (a chakra-filled shit would usually result in something worse than a Tailed-Beast Bomb). But being the hate-filled Bijuu he was, it was an extraordinary feat for him to actually not complain about something. Therefore, it was really an eye-popping moment when the fox-turned-man didn't have any qualms about the matter currently at hand.

"Why?" Naruto asked in wonder, "Why would you trust me with something like that? Why do you believe in me so much?!"

The smirk never left Kurama's face, "Because you have done the same for me, Naruto." He chuckled again at the sight of Naruto's dumbfounded look (seriously, that dumbfounded look made him look dumb), "Don't you remember? Back in our world, you trusted me to protect your friends. Me, who could've destroyed your friends just as much as Juubi. Knowing that, you gave everything you got to me and believed in me. And, well…" Kurama paused, looking downwards to his feet while his long hair shadowed over his face. Naruto looked curiously at him before being surprised when Kurama placed his fist in front of him and grinned, "It would be a joke if I don't trust you just as much, don't you think?"

At that moment, Naruto realized one thing that he was grateful of. Kurama wasn't just saying things...thinking back, he wasn't really the type to mess with words. This bond that they have wasn't something that one can merely cast off as "friends". On normal circumstances, humans and demons can't be friends. At the same time, though, if they are able to establish a bond similar to that, then whatever emotions that became the basis of that bond becomes stronger than that of a bond with the same species.

The bond that Naruto and Kurama had is one which is based with trust, of faith, and of believing in each other. As such, those feelings are amplified. They were more than friends.

They were comrades.

Naruto smiled, relief washing over his body when he was convinced that Kurama would be by his side. It made him feel much stronger than he already was. It made him feel…invincible. "Yeah…" the blond raised his own fist and connected it with Kurama's own, "Thanks, Kurama."

"Don't sweat it, brat." Kurama said back. Naruto's smile widened before he pulled his fist away from Kurama's. Turning around, he faced Frederica once again with a hundred-fold of confidence. Nodding at the girl and eyeing her with unwavering eyes, Naruto then said, "We're ready."

At the moment, Frederica was studying Naruto's face closely. The reason why she did so was unknown, even to her, but it concerned the uneasy feeling that she felt after Naruto said those words. She frowned in confusion and thought, _'What is this? I feel a strange vibe coming from Naruto's person, but what…?'_ The question ran along her mind without an answer to accompany it. It unsettled her. Even though Naruto was standing there normally without showing any kind of strange behavior, she still felt it.

The blue-haired girl's eyes narrowed when a hypothesis turned up in her mind, which only served to confuse her more. _'Is this…regret?'_ she thought. She had to resist the urge to scratch the back of her head in confusion; why did she pick up a sense of regret pouring from Naruto's person?

Frederica is a saint, so it didn't surprise her that she could sense the heart and emotion of a person. Her surprise was more to the reason of why Naruto exuded that sense of regret when he clearly found the confidence and the undeterred belief to proceed to the next world and forget of his last one. There was only one answer to that, though it sounded unlikely at the time. _'He's hiding it…that regret he has.'_ Frederica concluded mentally. A sigh escaped her lips, wondering why she was so surprised.

She had expected this to happen. No matter how pure and strong Naruto's heart is, he was still a human being. There was just no way he could take up such a choice like this without having even the slightest of regret lodging in his heart. He lost his world, after all. No…more importantly, he failed to protect it. Such a failure couldn't just be forgotten so easily. The purer the savior is, the harder his downfall feels.

Considering the fact that Naruto is the purest she had ever seen, his downfall should be bone-breaking.

Again, she sighed. She noticed that her continuous sigh has caught Naruto's attention, and it worried the blond. That didn't stop her from sighing again, though, as the confusion that ate at her mind was stressing her out. She understood, though, that if Naruto wasn't exactly eager to show his repressed regret then he didn't want her to know. Such a problem was something that he had to face himself. Quickly schooling her face, Frederica pushed her earlier thoughts back to her mind and spoke up, "So it seems." Frederica responded calmly. A smile made its way up her face, albeit being shown as just a slight upturn of her lips. With a flick of her hand, the orb hovering over her hand floated upwards and suddenly expanded; the speed of its explosion-like growth made both Naruto and Kurama flinch involuntarily. When the orb finished transforming, it had become a large sphere with a pink glow exuding from it. Naruto's eyes looked at it with awe; sure, this already wasn't the first time he saw it, but he could never get tired of the pink glow every shards and orbs has.

If it was glowing orange, then it would SO much cooler!

"This is the world I promised you; the world that your path shall start on. You will start anew and live your own life, though it will be much different than your previous one." Frederica explained, breaking Naruto off his thoughts. Out of curiosity, Naruto stepped forward and reached out to touch it. As he made contact, memories in the world came over his mind in the form of pictures. He noticed something off about it, though. Frowning, he delved deeper into the memory onslaught, straining to search it thoroughly. Still, he came up with no answer. He let out a confused "Huh?" just to show how clueless he was.

"Is something the matter?" Frederica asked.

"N-Nah, nothing…maybe it's just my feeling." Naruto muttered. The hesitant answer made Frederica quirk her eyebrow questioningly, while Kurama was eyeing Naruto strangely. After a while, Frederica laughed lightly, surprising Naruto who had came to look at her curiously.

"Oh, I see. So you noticed it, too."

"It?" The blonde asked, tilting his head with a clueless look on his face.

"The empty feeling of this world's memories," Frederica elaborated as she smiled understandingly, "I'm surprised that you can sense it, too."

Naruto blinked, caught off-guard by Frederica's statement. "Oh…I thought I was just daydreaming. So you know what that is?"

"It is what you feel it is." Frederica's right hand hovered up and touched the orb as well, letting her mind see the world's memories, "There are memories in this world, yet it feels vacant of life at the same time. Do you know why?" Seeing Naruto shook his head, Frederica continued, "It has something to do with one of this world's unique traits; that much I can tell. Now, I'll start with one of the traits that this world has; it's a curious case in which it can be reset should the requirement for the world to do so is fulfilled."

"Reset? Like, going back to the beginning or something?"

"You can say it that way." Frederica said, nodding at the blond, "Although I think it's more of changing than being reset."

"What are requirements you were talking about?" This time, it was Kurama who was being the curious questioner.

"I'm getting to that later. For now, let's just say that this is a world where it will be reset according to the capacity of the souls entering it. It doesn't necessarily change if the world as it is already became the appropriate world for the soul entering it." Frederica's eyes averted to the orb, staring at it intently, "While it sounds impossible, I think it is a world with its own growth system. The changes it underwent through all these times led me to believe that this world is growing to the possible brink of perfection."

Kurama raised an eyebrow, feeling skeptic of the current issue, "That sounds too perfect. What's so different than heaven, if that's the case?"

Frederica raised an eyebrow herself. She realized that Kurama hadn't believed in her words, but she can accept that. It wasn't his fault that he was skeptic of a seemingly perfect world actually existing in this universe. "The difference, Kurama, is that if you go to heaven then that is the end of your journey. You won't be able to proceed further, nor will you be able to experience life as it is. If you live again in a different world, though, you get to have all the above."

"That doesn't sound so bad to me." Kurama said flatly.

"True, maybe it isn't such a bad idea to just go to heaven already." Frederica concurred, "But if I don't get to see you two struggle against fate once more, then where's the fun in that?" she asked innocently.

"You have a sick sense of fun." A sweat-drop appeared on Kurama's head. He still couldn't get a grip that the girl is a saint. Her behavior certainly wasn't what one would expect from someone as high of standard as a saint.

Frederica chuckled at Kurama's words. Her attention then diverted to Naruto, who at the time still had his attention on the big orb hovering in front of him. "So, Naruto, what will be your next step?" she asked in effort to bring his attention back to her. Naruto blinked owlishly (and looked stupid as he did so) at her before his face gave a smile, "You gave me a world, Rika-chan. That's too epic for me to ignore, so count me in!"

"All right, if that is your decision…" Frederica paused, her left hand rising to point at the giant crystal orb in front of her. Naruto noticed it to be the same gesture that she used to call her Shards of Time, but what made him curious is why she pointed her hand to the orb in front of them. He received his answer when the crystal orb seemed to change shape at one point; that particular point rising to form a white, pillar-like form protruding from the orb. At the top of the pillar was a plate-shaped part, which had the same color as the orb. At the same time, there were also some pictures moving about in that plate-like part. "However, before you can go to this world, you'll have to go through this one first."

"What's that?" Naruto asked.

"It is your entrance to the new world." Frederica answered, "In a sense, it is similar to a parallel world. This one co-exists along with the main orb right here. This parallel world is what you touched earlier, Naruto."

"You mean that parallel world is the one which has void memories in it?" Naruto asked, blinking when the truth came to him.

"Yes. The parallel world is the part which was created to be a place serving like a safety net for dead people's souls. When people die in the 'true' world, their souls cross over to the parallel world. And, for this time, I'm going to make the entrance big enough for souls originating from other worlds to go through. The situation is befitting, actually. Since the current you are in soul form, this world is the only one that can naturally accept you." She pointed at the plate connected to the main crystal orb for clearer implication.

"That makes sense." Naruto said, putting in the two cents of his mind. Well, the generous deposit was nice of him, but he had to watch out since he was running out of those figurative two cents. To be blunt, that was one of the few things that made sense to him.

Frederica nodded, agreeing with Naruto's comment. She turned her face away from him, letting her eyes roam about. After a while, she finally began talking again, "You know, I always find these two worlds a bit curious."

"I don't know how I should interpret that curiosity," Naruto said, sweat-dropping while mentally adding, _'I mean, you're supposed to be the know-it-all saint.'_

"Well, you should be curious as well." Frederica said, seemingly unaffected by Naruto's statement. "After all, out of all the other universes, these two worlds' universe has the least number of worlds. To be frank, these two worlds are the only worlds that this universe holds."

"Eh? Just two?" Naruto exclaimed, slightly surprised by the revelation. He inclined his head to the giant crystal orb's direction and tried to look around it. He didn't find any other crystal orbs, and he wondered why he didn't notice it earlier. "Heeeh… That must suck big time."

Frederica nodded at Naruto, agreeing with his comment, "Perhaps…but at the same time, I think two is big enough of a number for the people of this universe."

"No matter how you look at it, I don't think that should be enough." Kurama said calmly, "The other universes we've looked at had at least five worlds. I don't know what the number of the worlds represents, but if each universe has a 'true' world like _Shippuden_ is in my and Naruto's universe, then other universes should have more worlds as to create better memory constructs for their own 'true' worlds. I mean, without enough memories of a world's ending—in this case, the world being the 'Question' arcs—then wouldn't the 'true' world be too dangerous?"

Naruto, at that time, looked brain-dead and stood there with smoke coming out of his ears. Meanwhile, Frederica was looking at Kurama and, judging by the looks of her face, the orange-haired man had caught her interest. "Oh? I see you have come to understand the system." She smirked at him, "You're better than I thought."

"Meh, someone should catch up to it sooner or later." Kurama said coolly, shrugging his shoulders as if what he said wasn't anything special. "Anyway, you haven't answered my question."

"To answer your inquiry, then yes, these two worlds' universe should be unstable due to the lack of memories that constructed it. However, due to a certain condition, that lack of stability is not a problem anymore." Folding her arms in front of her, Frederica's smirk then grew larger, "Such is how complex and perfect God balanced out each universe."

"What condition are you talking about?" Kurama pressed on. If one were to say he was eager, he would deny it defiantly while saying that he was only taking precautions before entering a strange new world filled with even stranger strangers. The term "too careful" doesn't apply here, as "being careless" is never an option for him; especially since he didn't have any idea what he would be facing.

"I meant the reset ability that the 'true' world has." Frederica stated, "With that ability, the instability of the 'true' world won't happen. The reason for this is because the world is too flexible to be caught in one unstable form for too long. It will change as soon as one unstable factor, which is a soul that crossed over, poses a problem for the world. In that regard, perhaps compared to the other worlds in the other universes, this is the one true safe haven next to heaven itself."

Kurama's response was just to stand there, his mouth gaping like a hobo being presented with a premium steak. "That…that is—I mean, it sounds too impossible. What's the purpose of having a heaven-like place if there is already one heaven in existence?"

"That, I don't know." Frederica said, shaking her head, "However, the term 'heaven-like' can't be given to this world. Unlike heaven, of course, conflict still brew in this world. Though, you are actually right, at one point."

"What do you mean by that?"

To answer Kurama's question, Frederica pointed a finger at the plate-shaped part above the orb, balancing on a sturdy looking pillar, "Like I said, this universe only has two worlds, both being parallel to one another. The main orb is what you would call the 'true' world, as I figured long time ago that memories were transported there from that plate-like part rather than the other way around. Another fact that I figured out is that this parallel world here acts as…perhaps the correct word for it is 'heaven', for the inhabitants of the 'true' world. It is still debatable whether it's really 'heaven' or not, because when a soul's existence ended in this 'heaven', it will instead be reincarnated in the 'true' world rather than being sent to the real heaven. Following that, if that person dies for a second time, only then would he or she be sent to the real heaven."

"That sounds more complicated than you let on." Kurama commented. His confusion of whether the parallel world was actually heaven or not was calmed for the moment, but he still couldn't understand too much.

"Perhaps it is. That is part of the reason why I found this universe interesting. Unlike the other ones, this one has a temporary failsafe in the form of a secondary heaven, even though I doubt it's anywhere near the real one in terms of completion. The best theory I could come up with is that the 'secondary heaven' serves as the point of purgatory." Frederica rubbed her right temple. She herself hadn't got the universe's unique state figured out, and she had headaches trying to figure out just how it works systematically. She tried reaching into both worlds to observe on the memories, yet she found nothing concerning how the 'secondary heaven', as she said it, actually worked. She sighed tiredly, "Usually, I wouldn't be this interested about a world's unique trait. Every world has one, so it's not that surprising. What I find endlessly intriguing, though, is of course the ability for the 'true' world to be reset. The extent of the reset isn't on a minor scale either; it is able to change the very reality of the 'true' world every now and then."

A world being reset was something out of the ordinary. More often than not, a reset would mean to wipe out existence in a world—both natural and unnatural—to return it to its pure, untouched state like the time before life existed in that world. Despite that, when the 'true' world of the Angel Beats universe resets, existence was merely reconfigured. For once, she wondered how complicated this universe was created to be.

By the time, Naruto had overridden his brain and gained control of his body again after the brain shock. He wildly shook his head and looked at Frederica with question marks over his head, "Uh…I don't want to pass out because of brain shock again, so I guess I'll come up with a short summary. So, when people die in the 'true' world, their souls get transferred to the parallel world?"

"Yes." Frederica simply answered.

"Okay. So, if we go by my choice which involves me and Kurama forgetting about our past life, then there must be something that permanently deletes our memory of it. AM I right?"

"Yes. Souls transferred from the parallel world are renewed, which results in a complete deletion of memories from the previous life. When those souls go to the 'true' world, the 'true' world will reset if the world is still too alien for those souls. The purpose of the memory deletion is, in fact, to prevent too much changes on the 'true' world. If the soul has no memory of his or her past life, then the 'true' world doesn't have to change to fit their past life's view of the world."

"That's…convenient." Naruto commented. This time, he avoided another brain shock just by accepting that Frederica's explanation was beyond his brain's reach. Kurama had the same thought, though he was a bit more skeptical towards it and thought that it was _too_ convenient.

"I agree. If I were to give my opinion on this world, I'd say that this would be the place where anyone with the desire of second chances should go to." Frederica said before quickly adding, "Anyone who is considered special, of course."

The offer sounded tempting. Why wouldn't it be? After all, Frederica made the world sound so desirable. Not to mention that this universe's 'true' world also offered them—Naruto and Kurama—a new start in life. They could start over, live a life without wars and bloodshed which the Ninja World was consisted of. Maybe the peace that Naruto was seeking is available in this new world. And, from Frederica's description, the world seemed to be a win-win choice for both Naruto and Kurama; Naruto especially, since all this was for him anyway.

However, the blond himself seemed to be thinking hard right now if his thinking pose meant anything. "Hmmm…." He let out as he closed his eyes and put a mock thinking pose. Beside him, Kurama was marveling himself with the sight in front of him, _'The brat THINKS! Oh, Kami, let his brain hold out a little while longer, PLEASE!'_

And finally, Naruto snapped his eyes open and, with a grin, snapped his fingers, "ALRIGHT! I guess this is worth a shot! This world is beginning to make me feel antsy!"

"I can see that." Frederica said, her face showing bits of carelessly concealed mirth. She chuckled before walking towards the Ninja World's duo while her right hand gestured the transformed crystal orb to shift in its position. "Before you go, let me give a warning to you. This world is very different than yours. Whatever you see in there, it might be your first time seeing it. If you seek to forget about your past life, then you have to go past this strange parallel world first then to the 'true' world, where your memories will be renewed. However, you should never let that discourage you two." She pointed her left hand's pointing finger at the two, "Remember what you have right now, remember what you gained from your previous world; and when you do, you will be able to overcome any obstacles."

Naruto nodded, "We will."

Kurama also nodded, a smirk overcoming his face, "This world is in for a surprise."

"I'm sure it is." Frederica said with an eager smile. Her right hand was reaching out to touch the hovering matter in front of them when Naruto stopped her, "Wait, Rika-chan, before you send us there I, uh...I have something to tell you." He said hastily. Pausing, Frederica watched Naruto with mild amusement as one of her eyebrows rose, "Something to tell me?" she parroted curiously.

"Y-Yeah. Um…about that 'help' you offered me before. You know, the whole 'watching over me without hindering my way' and such, you still remember that?"

Frederica hummed in thought for a while. Well, she did tell him something like that when he was still feeling unsure of himself. "Ah, yes, I did say that. Why did you bring that up again?"

"Er…how should I put this…?" The blond scratched the back of his head—his old habit of doing so whenever he was confused never being ceased—while nervously looking back and forth between Frederica and the non-existent ground beneath him. He exhaled loudly before continuing, "It's not that I'm not grateful of it or anything, but I don't think I'll need your help. EH? Wait, that didn't came out right… Er, I mean, you don't have to go out of your way to do something like that. You've helped us more than enough with all that you did and…well, I thank you for all that, but it'd be selfish of me to ask more of you."

"Naruto, watching over worlds is what I do. Paying extra attention to a particular world will not be any different from my actual duty." Frederica said with a blank expression on her face, not knowing what Naruto was trying to say. When the realization dawned on Naruto, he blushed slightly in embarrassment. He officially made a fool of himself. "Uh…well, yeah, I mean…GAH! If that's the case, then I sounded real stupid just now! Damn it!"

'_Oh…so that's how it is.'_ Frederica thought when she realized what was going on. She chuckled mirthfully, bringing a delicate hand to her mouth to contain her laughter. Then, to the shock of the two males present in the room, she failed to contain that amusement and outright giggled. GIGGLED! And just when things weren't supposed to go any weirder.

"Naruto, Naruto, Naruto…" she said, her tune sounded like a scolding mom's while her head was shaking side to side. "I'm delighted. Why, I never thought that you'd worry about me that much! I'm surprised…pleasantly so." She smiled; something that she rarely did up to when she met the yellow-haired goofball, "Nevertheless, I will still keep an eye on you. Like I said, I won't really be doing anything out of the ordinary, other than to assure you that you are not alone in this journey."

Naruto's words got stuck in his throat. The smile on the girl's face was unlike her previous ones. It was considerably wider, brighter than the previous half-hearted, half sarcastic smiles. Somehow, Naruto knew, he wasn't the only one being grateful. "W-Well, if that's the case, then thanks again, Rika-chan. I already feel like I can take on whatever world you're giving me!" he let out with a wide, toothy grin.

"Then let's get started." Frederica declared. Her right hand made contact with the plate-shaped part of the orb, which shone brightly as she stared intently at it. She hummed for a moment before muttering to herself, "It seems that this world is technologically more advanced than yours. Also, I've acquired information that Kurama's existence in this world would be invalid."

"EH? Why?" Naruto exclaimed, shocked out of his sandals. Kurama was also curious, though he looked like he was ready to accept whatever occurrence that should happen to him.

"I don't really understand, but beings such as Kurama simply can't exist in this world." Frederica answered as she kept searching the world thoroughly, letting her mind taking in the information. She then smiled, "I see…it is because Kurama is no more a single entity by himself. He is now only part of something else. This world requires an entity as a whole, though I still don't understand why."

"Part of something else, huh…?" Kurama muttered. He sighed and shook his head, but a smile was on his face, "It seems that my soul is bonded more tightly than I expected."

"It seems so." Frederica coincided.

"Eh? Eh? What are you talking about?" Naruto asked, jerking his head side to side from Kurama to Frederica. "Seriously, you lost me when you said that he simply can't exist."

Frederica ignored him; AGAIN, might it be added. ""Well, it is how it is. Do you mind if I reseal you then?"

Kurama also ignored him; nothing new there, of course. "If that is what it requires, then by all means. I can't leave the brat alone in some strange world, can I?" he asked with a toothy grin.

"Of course."

"HEY, QUIT IGNORING ME AND ANSWER MY DAMN QUESTION!"

"Sealing you should be easy enough." Frederica said, still ignoring Naruto's outburst, "I praise the man referred to as the Fourth Hokage who created the memory of this sealing method. Without him, this would be impossible."

"You're praising the human who I once swore to kill, yet here I am feeling thankful for him." Kurama said, rolling his eyes in annoyance, "Honestly, irony is a damned word."

"YOU'RE STILL IGNORING ME!"

"Hmph. You never know, Kurama," Frederica said, "life is full of coincidences."

"OI!"

Then, to Naruto's shock, Frederica's hand went through a set of hand seals. Hand seals which originated from his world. _'How come SHE knows how to do it?'_ Naruto, my friend, if you actually paid attention to the last series of conversation rather than screaming for attention, you might actually learn something.

Frederica's hand stopped at one hand seal, and at that instant her eyes turned to the menacing full-purple orbs with that red dot in the middle where her pupils was supposed to be. **"**_**Fuuin Jutsu: Hakke Fuuin **_(Sealing Jutsu: Eight Trigrams Seal)_**.**_**"**

**-End of Prologue-**

**-xo-**

Ahem, well that's one chapter done, even though it's a prologue.

While I was writing this chapter, I also thought of the possibility that I'm only spouting nonsense on a piece of paper. To be frank, I don't know if anything I've said in this story is relevant or not, but ergo, that's for you to decide. Once again, I declare that I'm a flawed author in both imagination and inspiration.

Eh? Frederica using Minato's sealing jutsu? Meh, why not? In this story, she's a saint who watches over countless worlds; specifically the memories in them. Minato's act should be huge enough of a memory to catch Frederica's attention, so she should be interested in his techniques. I mean, he brought a freaking Bijuuto its knees by himself. No offense, Kurama.

Kurama: None taken.

Oh, and I wonder if I pictured the world of Angel Beats the way it suppose to be? Of course, I notice that I didn't write much on it here, and I only mentioned the real world of the Angel Beats series, not the Afterworld. That, dear readers, is an experience that should be experienced in the next chapter :D but seriously, how did I do? I noticed that I was practically breaking the fourth wall when I had Frederica address the world Naruto chose as "universal code: Angel Beats". I get it, I might be pushing my luck by using an external component of a manga/anime, which is the title. Honestly, I was just tired of having the characters above addressing the Angel Beats world as "that world", "this world", "this new world" and all that. Well, yeah, okay the fact that I thought writing down something like those three in the narrator manuscript is too damn tiring contributed to the reasoning.

I guess there's no point ranting to myself now, so I'll just wait for reviews like the rabid author I am. R&R, people!

Extra Note: I've reloaded this chapter in January 2nd, 2013 for some trivial reasons. One of them is that I figured that I should write down something like a teaser for the next chapter. The Angel Beats anime series does it, so why don't I?

Extra Note #2: Once again, I reloaded this chapter; this time it's on February 4th 2013. I've made some mistakes on grammar and some other stuff. Also, Naruto wasn't supposed to say Frederica's name as it is. Rather, he was supposed to stick to "Rika-chan" for story-related reasons. Sorry for the inconvenience.

**-xo-**

-Next Chapter-

"**Aaah, it's good to be back."**

"How did he get here?!"

"He helped Angel, you know."

"Hah! What can you do with a small knife like that?"

"I'll make sure you don't kill anyone."

"Is he…a shinobi?"

"_Kagebunshin no Jutsu!_"

"Just what…is happening to this world?"


	2. Chapter 1: Accidental First Contact

Daaaamn the idea just keeps on flowing! I don't know why, but I can't keep my mind off this fic; not even once! It seems that the plot bunnies have really done a good number on my train of thought.

Oh, great, now I'm getting too eager to do this.

Well, without further ado, let's start with the disclaimer! Who's on today's list, I wonder? (grabs a long piece of paper and reads it) AHAH! It seems luck's on my side! Now, Hinata, get your ass over here!

Hinata: E-Eh? H-Hai, I'm c-coming…

Me: …er, Hinata, I didn't call for you.

Hinata: Eh? B-But you clearly said my name…d-didn't you?

Me: Oh, come on Hinata, who in their right and sane mind would call out to you like that? I mean, seriously, a princess such as you deserves a more elegant calling. Like, for instance, "Hinata-ojousama, may I request for your presence in this time and place?"

Hinata: O-Oh…you don't have to call me like t-that. But if it's not m-me that you called for, than who e-exactly?

Me: There's only one person that I would call out to in such a bastardized manner. And that is…the other Hinata.

Hinata: Eh?

Me: You swine…how dare you trick pretty little Hinata into this misunderstanding? I don't care if that's your surname, you scrawny-ass. It's still not right to trick the maiden of the pure heart! Now come here, because you're reading the disclaimer RIGHT NOW! _Ninpou: Kuchiyose no Jutsu, Hinata Hideki!_

Hideki: (appears in a puff of smoke) OOF! Oh, uh, heheh, I guess you found me…?

Me: Shut up and read the disclaimer, pretty boy. You've caused enough trouble for having the same name as Hinata, even though it's just your surname. Now, before you read that thing, apologize to her!

Hideki: EH?! But it's not my fault that my name's like this!

Me: Like hell I care! Now read the disclaimer and repent, or else!

Hideki: All right, all right. Sheesh, so much trouble for reading something like this…

**Disclaimer: ahem, uh, SpinLord doesn't own me, Hinata-chan, or any characters from the Naruto and Angel Beats franchises. Unless you want to be considered the local psycho, you'll do well to understand this. Oh, and, uh, sorry for the trouble, Hinata-chan!**

Hinata: Eh? Ah, um, no, i-it's really all right.

Me: …well, that went better than I thought. You got lucky this time, Hideki.

Also, note for readers. If any of you are wondering why I'm referring to the blue-haired idiot here as Hideki rather than Hinata as he was often referred to in the anime series, it's because I want to avoid misunderstandings such as the one I had earlier. I mean, come on! How could you compare Hyuuga Hinata with Hinata Hideki? It's like comparing a cup of strawberry sundae to a bowl of vinegar. Thus, I'll refer to him as Hideki throughout the story; even though other characters may call him "Hinata" regardless of what I just said -_-

"normal speech"  
_'thoughts'_  
**"inhuman/in-mind entity talking"  
**_**'inhuman/in-mind entity thinking'**_**  
**"words spoken in English" (mainly TK's speaking)

Extra Note: THANK GOD! I've finally found out the way to make formal line breaks (horizontal lines which I haven't realized were put in the Document Editor application of the Doc Manager) I've replaced it for this chapter, and will do keep doing it for future chaps. Probably going to replace the "xoxoxo" line breaks in the previous chapter, too. I'm keeping the "-xo-" line breaks, though.

**-xo-**

**Soundtrack listing: **_Aoi Eir – __Innocence__; Toshiro Masuda – Keisei Gyakuten (Battle Theme)_

**-Chapter 1-**

Accidental First Contact

A blurring sight, the sudden lost of balance, the sudden pull of gravity, and of course the inexplicable pain.

On several occasions, Naruto could've fathom the pain and, in turn, adjust himself to the other handicaps. At the moment, however, his body refused to comply and even entered the state of unconsciousness. The pain was gone, but he still couldn't control his body to get rid of the other problems. Worse, even though his body was temporarily shut down, his mind wasn't. His mind was currently running at hyper-drive, trying to comprehend what was going on. But no matter how strong his will was, no matter how hard he focused, he didn't understand any of the things happening to him. Instead of succeeding in overriding his body, he started to hear voices in his head.

"**Brat! Oi, Naruto, can you hear me?"**

Ah…that familiar voice again. _'Kurama?'_ Naruto thought to himself, _'How come I can hear you in my head again? Wait…I can't speak. What the hell?'_

"**You're unconscious, brat. At least your real body is; your mind is still awake, that's why we can talk like this."** Kurama explained, **"Now get your mind to wake up. We need to talk."**

The fox didn't need to explain how Naruto had to do a thing such as waking his mind, but not his body. The blond had done it countless times before when he was still in his world. Focusing on his mind, Naruto—in his mental form—slowly opened his eyes, letting them adjust to what little lighting he would receive. When he opened them completely, his skin registered the cold feeling of water. He jerked awake with goose bumps of surprise rising on the back of his neck, making a splashing sound as his hands slammed down to the surface of the water. That settled it; he was in his mindscape.

"What? This place again?" he said as his eyes took notice of his surroundings, "I thought we're already over this."

"**Apparently we're not."** Kurama's voice boomed throughout the area. Naruto tilted his head upwards, trying to search for Kurama. Then, out of the shadows, he caught a glimpse of a pair of big red eyes with slits in the middle of them. "Hm…so you're back in your fox form, huh? It's still cool and all, but I think I favor your human form over your fox one."

Kurama snorted arrogantly, **"Please. Even if I cared about your opinion in the matter, I wouldn't have wanted to turn back to my pitiful form as a human." **He spited rudely. Confused by Kurama's response, Naruto stared up at the giant fox with questioning squinted eyes and flat lips, "…hm. I think all of your previous niceties and the 'I don't hate humans' attitude disappeared along with your human form. Tch, and just when I thought you'd really act human for once…"

"**Changes of myself aside, brat,"** Kurama interjected, paying no attention to Naruto's comment, **"do you remember what happened to you before you blacked out?"**

"Eh? Hrm…" As he took on a thinking pose—he folded his arms and pouted his lips upwards—his mind tried hard to remember what exactly happened. He remembered Frederica and her timeless realm; that much he remembered. How he ended up back in the sewers that was his mindscape was still a mystery to him. "I don't really remember that much. All I remember is Rika-chan showing us a new world, and went on an agonizingly long explanation about it. But, other than that, it's null and void for me."

Kurama stared at the blond, silently taking in the information he gave. Moments later, the nine-tailed fox sighed, **"Is that so? Darn it. I should've known that the resealing process should take away some of your memories. Thank goodness it's not that much either."**

"What are you talking about, furball?" Naruto asked aloud, demanding an answer. When all the answer Kurama gave was a blank stare, the blond Jinchûriki gasped when the realization hit him hard on the head. "Wait… Resealing process? So, in other words, you're sealed inside me again?"

"**Glad to know that your brain still works as well as any normal human being."**

"Ah, well, I take pride in my intellect." Naruto said, shrugging his shoulders, "I was wondering why you end up behind bars again; bars that I distinctly remembered being ravaged just some time ago. I guess that explains it." Out of mild curiosity, Naruto zipped his jacket down and held up his t-shirt to expose his abdomen. He frowned in confusion as he saw the familiar array of seals painted where it was, "_Hakke Fuuin_…someone placed the same seal that Dad on me. I guess that explains why you're here again, but…"

Naruto hesitated. Noticing his host's weird behavior, Kurama raised a questioning eyebrow and, letting his curiosity take over him, he asked, **"Something wrong, brat?"**

"N-Nah, it's nothing." Naruto answered, silently cursing for the stutter in his speech. He was confused; of the fact that Kurama was once again inside him, but even more so of the apparent question of who actually did it. "By the way, do you know who repaired the seal? I was sure that no one was around that came from our world when we were in Frederica's realm, so I'm not sure who did it." Naruto lightly pinched his jaw between his thumb and index finger in effort to think, "Then again, it might be you since you still had a mountain equality of chakra, even in your human form. Did you…?"

"**As much as I'm both flattered and strangely amused that you would think that I repaired your seal, I didn't do it."** Kurama answered; a strange look on his face which was a mixture of mild interest and amusement, **"I have not learned of the many hand seals that you humans learned, which is needed if one intends to create such a complex seal as the **_**Hakke Fuuin**_**. That being said, even if I have the sufficient amount of chakra to do it, I do not understand the method needed to do it."**

Naruto's eyes were squinted again; it was clear that he was trying to keep up with Kurama's long and hearty explanation, but due to his short-term attention span (which nearly made him an ADHD patient) he had successfully tuned out several bits of information Kurama gave him. "O…kay. So, if it wasn't you, then who did it?" he asked with a strained face.

"**Who do you think?"** Kurama asked back, rolling his eyes, **"Try to think logically. Out of the three people present in Frederica's realm, one was a Bijuu trapped in human form, the other was a Jinchûriki with no chakra at all, and the last one was a saint with inexplicable powers. From there on, I think you can do the math."**

For a while, Naruto seemed lost. In all honesty, his lost expression was so priceless Kurama wished he had a camera. After a while, Naruto looked like he finally caught on to what Kurama said to him, and then Kurama was having a hard time deciding whether his deer-in-the-headlights look was more priceless than his previous one or not.

"Y-You don't mean… It was Rika-chan's doing?!" He let out in disbelief.

"**Jackpot,"** Kurama said, grinning widely, **"It seems she hid a lot of things from us; her ability to learn what she had seen in countless worlds included."**

"B-But that…that sounds…!"

"**Impossible?"** Kurama suggested. He shrugged his shoulders before Naruto had the chance to answer, **"That was the first thing that I thought, too. But we ARE talking about the Saint of Time and Space; impossible things are bound to happen."**

"…you are being suspiciously easy-going about this." Naruto said as a sweat-drop appeared on the back of his head.

"**We Bijuu are gifted with minds capable of turning ourselves into the most insane beings or the most logical existence by our whim. Right now, I'm sure I'm crazy enough to accept just anything."** Kurama stated with a blank face.

"Uh huh…I'll pretend that I didn't hear the 'you-being-crazy' part." It was bad enough that the most illogical thing just happened to Naruto, but to have a gigantic, demonic (and perhaps bordering lunatic) fox inside him was more than a little disconcerting given his current situation. If he were to list the strange things that had happened to him, then he could already picture an elongated shopping list.

Strange thing number one: His world was destroyed, yet he found out that it was only a parallel world that was fated to be ended anyway.

Strange thing number two: He met a saint, who was surprisingly just a little girl! Well, okay, a little girl that could paralyze him with a glare, but that's beside the point.

Strange thing number three: He was apparently one of the few people that were granted a second chance to live again, reincarnated. The fact that he could reincarnate was something he classified as sub-strange thing number three.

Strange thing number four: He was given an unexpected choice. When he chose to forget about his past life, he didn't have the chance to ask what kind of world he would be sent to. The only piece of information Rika-chan gave him was that it was technologically more advanced than his, whatever that means. Go figure; he couldn't even picture the worst case scenario.

And the last one, strange thing number five: Kurama, once a Bijuu sealed in him and separated from him in death, was once again inside him sealed by the same seal that the Fourth Hokage (his father) used; courtesy of one Frederica Bernkastel.

God, and just when he thought he'd seen enough mind-blowing occurrences in his life.

Naruto sighed. He wasn't even awake yet, and he was already feeling the headache from thinking too much. "Huh…wild things are happening to me without me asking for it. I guess I can't use the term impossible anymore now." He said, giving up on understanding the whole matter. "Hey, now that I think about it, that means we're Jinchûriki and Bijuu again, huh?"

"**That's right."** Kurama said, his grin turning into a cocky smirk as he chuckled, **"Heh, I never thought I'd say this, but… Aaah, it's good to be back."**

"Back in that cage, you mean?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow, "Last time I checked you never liked it. Wasn't that why we agreed to let you out every once in a while ever since I could open the seal?"

"**Well, yes, this place gets insufficient for me more often than not. But a fox could never be that far from his den; no matter what the circumstances are."** Kurama answered, coming up with a metaphor that was obviously improvised. Naruto noticed that fact, and he rolled his eyes in annoyance, "So my stomach is your den now? Oh, sure, that works. I have no qualms on the possession rights, which by the way doesn't sound so wrong at all." He said, going full throttle with his sarcasm.

"**Quit with the complaints, brat. You know you miss my presence here."**

'_Well, it's not that I'm gonna argue with that…'_ The thought passed Naruto's mind, all the while making Naruto regret how right Kurama was. Oh, the embarrassment of having to admit that to Kurama! Oh, SHAME! Shaking his head, Naruto immediately picked a topic that completely derived from the matter at hand; like, whether or not Kurama knew about what was happening outside his mind. "Hey, Kurama, do you know what's happening outside? I can't wake up now, for some kind of reason. Maybe it's because of my chakra or whatever…"

"**Hm… Nice question." **Kurama said in the manner that made Naruto suspicious of what he actually meant. The fox couldn't really have a tally-ho on his real intention for changing their topic…could he? Kurama, not noticing that the blond had begun to sweat a little, continued, **"I know about that; in fact, I can see it for myself right now. But…there's not really much to see."** As he said that, the fox closed his eyes and entered what Naruto thought to be a meditative state. In actuality, though, it wasn't that far from his expectation. Only, rather than meditation, Kurama was actually trying to force-open Naruto's eyes from his mind.

It worked. Outside of Naruto's mind, his body began to react to Kurama's control. Not a moment later, the unconscious blonde's eyes opened to reveal a pair of red eyes with slits as their pupil. The eyes themselves looked frighteningly dead even though it was moving round to see. The sight that Kurama saw from Naruto's eyes…well, like he said before, there wasn't really much to see. **"It's dark out. Judging by the looks of it, I don't think we've even arrived at the world Frederica sent us to. We're probably still in some kind of dimensional tunnel. At least, it looks like it."**

"Heeeh…I want to see what it's like, too!" Naruto whined.

"**Then wake the hell up, idiot. It's not like I'm holding you back from taking a look for yourself."**

"I would have if I know how…" Naruto grumbled, an unhappy pout forming on his face, "Freaking chakra depletion bites me in the ass at the inappropriate time."

Kurama shrugged as he tuned out Naruto's rant. He had already come up with a hypothesis for Naruto's condition; to be precise, why he actually felt chakra-depleted. The only explanation he came up with was the fact that dead people lacked chakra. In theory, since Naruto was dead, both his physical and spiritual body shouldn't have chakra inside them.

It was a clear understanding that chakra is the amalgam of physical and spiritual energy. When someone dies, their body and soul are merely separated. Thus, when someone dies, the chakra that that person built up crumbles and becomes nonexistent because the two ingredients needed to make it is separated.

Now, while that was a troublesome condition, it wasn't what kept Naruto unconscious. Naruto was unconscious because his body—in this case, his spiritual body (because he's dead, after all)—was readjusting to Kurama once again after having separated for quite some time. They were lucky that all Naruto was having is a bout of unconsciousness.

Of course, the hypothesis Kurama came up also brought an unhappy frown to his face. He believed that Naruto didn't have any chakra left because he was already dead. While that was true, what Naruto had said to him before confused him to no end.

"_-Then again, it might be you since you still had a mountain equality of chakra, even in your human form.-"_

Naruto said that Kurama still had a lot of chakra in him. Kurama trusted Naruto's senses; the blond had became aware of his innate chakra that belonged to Kurama since a long time, and as time passes it made him able to recognize the Nine-Tailed Fox's chakra offhandedly. Instead of the blonde's awareness, the fact that Kurama still had chakra in him was what confused him the most. After all, wasn't he—for a lack of a better word—dead as his Jinchûriki is?

"…rama. Oi, KURAMA! You hearing me, man?"

Hearing the call, Kurama broke off his thoughts and shook his head. He opened his eyes and gave Naruto a glare for yelling at him, **"I can hear you loud and clear. And I'm not kidding about the loud part."**

"That can't be true. You were ignoring me for a whole five minutes!"

"**Whatever, brat. Was there something you wanted to say before you decided to be a smartass?"**

Naruto growled at the giant fox, not caring if challenging the beast was disadvantageous to him or not. A few growling moments later, he reverted back to pouting, "Hmph! If I didn't need you to look outside for me, you wouldn't be so cocky. Now listen, I don't like it myself, but keep me posted on what's happening outside. Not knowing what's happening to the real me makes me very uncomfortable."

"**Well, that's good and all…"** Kurama quirked an eyebrow as Naruto sat down cross-legged while forming his hand into a ram hand seal, **"What are you doing now?"**

"I'm trying to gather my chakra and see if I can use it to wake myself up. I can't stay asleep forever, even if the idea sounds delightful in and of itself." Naruto said, his eyes closed and his brows furrowed in concentration. Kurama opened his mouth to tell the blond about the hypothesis he came up with, only to shut it before he even voiced out his thoughts. In contrast to what he initially tried to do, he shrugged, _**'Meh, he'll realize about his chakra-less state sooner than later. I'll leave that for him to find out himself. In the meantime, I guess I'll monitor the outside world again.'**_

Kurama then turned his attention away from the mental apparition of his jailor, closing his eyes again to look at the world outside. However, after a second of seeing, Kurama snapped his eyes open and glanced at Naruto with a troubled expression. **"Uh…Naruto?" **he called out.

"What is it? Can't you see I'm damn trying to concentrate?!"

"**Well, um…for all the things that we've been through, you know that I won't do anything that will disadvantage the both of us, right?"**

"If you ignore all those times in which you tried to control my body, hurting my precious people and the like, then yeah, possibly. Why?"

"**Urm…" **It was discomforting to see Kurama so hesitant like this, all because it was too out of character for him to actually be like that. With an uncharacteristic sigh, Kurama continued, **"Well, just don't hate me for the rude wake-up call."**

"Huh?"

And, just like that, it all seemed to repeat.

A blurring sight, the sudden lost of balance, the sudden pull of gravity, and the inexplicable pain. Only, this time, the pain Naruto was feeling felt like Sakura had risen up from the dead and given him a chakra-filled wallop on the head. By reaction, Naruto raised both of his hands to his head and proceeded to grab it in pain. "I-I-ITTAAAIII!" he exclaimed loudly, writhing around on the ground…in pain.

May it be noted that when people used to say that Naruto's skull might be the thickest alloy next to carbon steel, they weren't exactly joking about it. Thus, it was quite the impact to the head for the blond to actually feel pain from it.

"FUCKING PIECES OF CRAP-EATING SHIT! That fucking HURT!" It was also a notable detail that Naruto wasn't the kind to swear so much. Unless, of course, he was pushed off to his limits, then he'd turn into a lean, mean, swearing machine in a matter of seconds. "Eh? Oh, wait, I can talk again." Naruto said as the realization dawned on him, "Ah, screw that! Where's the bastard Kurama?!"

"**I told you not to hate me for this."** Naruto heard the fox's voice from the innermost part of his head, sounding sincerely apologetic that it made Naruto cringe.

"Screw that, you should've told me what's coming beforehand!" Naruto yelled out, forgoing the fact that Kurama would've heard his words loud and clear even if he would just thought out the words. Growling in frustration, Naruto closed his eyes and sighed loudly, "AAH, whatever. Things won't get better with me lying down like a cripple making a sitting duck of a target out of his own ass, wherever we are now."

Taking in his surroundings, Naruto had a very good reason for voicing out his worry like that. He noted the whitish brick walls and floors, several dumps of dirt, some fireplace-like entrances that were covered by the aforementioned dirt, and some chimney-like red pipes protruding from those fireplaces. Wherever he was, Naruto couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. He was alone; thank God the lights were on, or it would've been much scarier. That settled it; he needed to find some people (or at least some kind of life forms).

Getting up became one of the task that Naruto had to do. After a few minutes of trying to get up (or, more precisely, flailing his limbs around like a madman reaching for the stars), he realized that this was more of a chore rather than a task. Groaning, he rolled to his stomach and tried to put his feet under him. He succeeded, but he reached his limit only when he just got up into a crouching position. "Hah…hah…whew, don't know why that felt so tiring, but…" he muttered tiredly. The blond pushed his arms to his knees as an attempt to fully rise up to his feet. But the effort was wasted when said knees gave in and made him fall forward, almost making him face-plant himself on the ground.

"Wha…what…? I…ugh, I can't stand up!" he exclaimed. Once again, he tried to push himself up, only to find himself toppling forward again before he hit his head on a brick wall. "Ow! Damn it, nature's all against me!"

"**It's nothing to do with nature, Naruto."** Kurama's voice interjected in his mind, **"I think it's because I was just sealed in you barely an hour ago. Your body is still adjusting to my presence, so that might explain why you can't move around too much."**

"Ukh…damn it all." Naruto cursed. He groaned as his hands rose up to meet the brick wall and pushed himself off of it, only to find himself unbalanced and basically dropping on his butt. "Ow. Tch… How long do you think it'll take for me to adjust?"

"**I can't say… I doubt it'd be too long, but I don't know how long. It shouldn't be more than an hour, since this is the second time I'm sealed in you. So your body should've recognized me naturally."** Kurama surmised. Hearing Kurama's answer made Naruto groan out more just to show how annoyed he had become. Nevertheless, even annoyed, Naruto knew better than to push himself further than this and risk his body failing on him. So, while he wanted to do something else, he settled on crawling to the brick wall he walked up into and sat down, his back leaning to the wall.

"I hate to say this…but Rika-chan really did a number on me." Naruto suddenly said, "Dimensional mumbo-jumbo aside, she didn't really tell me HOW I would arrive in this world. Not only that, but I didn't exactly remember her telling that my chakra would disappear all of the sudden."

"**You're right, Frederica didn't tell any of us that your chakra would be gone."** Kurama conceded, nodding his head, **"But maybe that's because she didn't really see the point of telling us that."**

"Why would she think that giving a little bit of warning is pointless?" Naruto asked aloud, "I know her better than that. *sigh* Well, okay, technically I just met her after my death, but we both know that she doesn't mean for anything bad to happen to us, right?"

"**I'm not accusing her of anything, if that is what you're implying. It's just that maybe she thought that she really didn't have to explain something that YOU should've known from the start."**

"Eh? What should have I known from the start?"

"**Oh, I don't know. Perhaps something trivial like DEAD PEOPLE DOESN'T HAVE CHAKRA?"**

"EEEEEEH!?"

To the people that might've been the witness of Naruto's conversation with his nine-tailed tenant they might as well think that the blond was a lunatic who was talking with a ghost. While that wasn't too far off the point, it didn't get rid of the fact that it was fortunate that no one was around, lest they'd be served with this kind of crazy humor. Now, back to the blond subject in hand…

"So you're telling me that I CAN'T USE CHAKRA?! How fucked-up is that?!"

"**Hey, don't look at ME when you're having that problem! You were supposed to realize that AGES ago! Don't they teach you anything in your puny little village?"**

"WELL, APPARENTLY NOT!" Naruto retorted angrily, resorting to imagining the wall besides the one he was leaning on as Kurama, and proceeded to rain it with spit and curses.

Moments of pointless arguing later, Naruto had finally wasted the last of his energy and slumped back to the wall behind him. He sighed tiredly, wondering how all of these troublesome problems actually began. "Well that's just great…" he muttered, "I'm a ninja with no chakra. What else can go wrong?"

"**Correction: you're a dead ninja with no chakra, so it actually makes sense. And, well, to answer your question…you're in a new dangerous world, particularly in an unknown part of it, right now."** Kurama added, hoping that that answered Naruto's question. It seemed that wasn't the case, though, because Naruto responded to that with a scowling face, "You're not helping, Kurama."

"**You're welcome, brat."** Said the equally scowling Kurama, who rolled his eyes out of pure annoyance. The fox shook his head lightly, reminding himself that arguing with his Jinchûriki wouldn't get them anywhere. Even if it did, Kurama doubted it would be somewhere that both of them preferred to be. **"Tch, never mind that. So what's your plan now? Assuming, of course, you have one."**

Now that got the blond thinking. For once, the Number One Hyperactive and Most Unpredictable Ninja of Konoha didn't have a way out of their current problem. Not now, anyways. And that was exactly the problem; Naruto's plans were usually a spur-of-the-moment kind of plans, which he often came up in the heat of the moment. Moments where he had to sit down and think it over didn't really exist when he was alive; he doubted that it would happen even in his death. However, considering the dilemma that he and Kurama were facing, he probably had to take a leaf out of Shikamaru's book; or cigarettes, depending on what the lazy-ass used to slip between his books.

"I guess I'll…sit and think."

"**Heavens, this world is going to end."**

And so, as the blond Jinchûriki sat down and began thinking, the fox inside him resorted to doing the same thing. Needless to say, this was the best choice of actions they had right now. Little did they know, however, that they wouldn't be sitting down for long. And they have barely an idea that, in the kind of place they were, passivity wasn't an option. The place had a name.

The place was called the Guild.

* * *

_Meanwhile, a good distance away from Naruto…_

Beyond the rows of brick walls that expanded from Naruto's current location, in a humongous cave fit for a dragon, a battle was imminent.

The participants of said battle hadn't gathered completely. On one side, stood a mere teenage girl whose mid-back length hair was the most exquisite shade of purple, framing her face while being held in place by a black bandanna with a light green bow decorating the right side. Her wide eyes, sea-green orbs that seemed to shine as it reflected the light of the lamp above her, were shaded by her fringes and bangs that her bandanna failed to hold back; though the failure wasn't a minus point as the hair framed her face beautifully. The girl was clad in a long-sleeved sailor-fuku uniform for female high school students; complete with a purple tie and thigh-length skirt. If there was any factor that differentiated the uniform than most sailor-fuku uniforms, it would be the logo of a shield-shaped crest sewed to her left sleeve; three S letters imprinted over that crest. She also wore black leather stockings that covered her legs up to her thighs, and a pair of black shoes.

Oh, and to note, she held a metallic-silver Berreta 92 pistol in her right hand, while her left hand was on her hips.

She was casually waiting for something, it seemed, as her eyes were set to a cloud of smoke arising dead ahead of her. Whatever she was waiting for, it was clear that she wasn't going to let her guard down even for a second as the determination and focus was as clear on her face as clouds are in the sunny skies.

A sound caught her attention, though it didn't necessarily turn her eyes away from where she was looking. Even so, she knew where the shuffling sound came from. There was a shaft behind her that she had climbed out of to get where she was, so there was no doubt that whoever was coming they were coming through that same shaft. As the person came to her peripheral view, it was clear that she was right.

"Oh, you came?" asked the girl, "Aren't you scared?" It wasn't that she was saying that he was; rather, she was implying that he should feel at least a tidzy-bit scared.

"There's nothing for me to do down there anyway." The person answered, holding a black Glock 17 pistol in his hands.

The person was a teenage boy—a tall one, at that—whose neck-length, reddish-orange hair was styled so that the fringes covered his forehead and nearly covered his eyes as well. His burgundy eyes were set to the same direction as the girl beside him, eyeing the smoke with caution. Just like his female companion, he too wore a school uniform; his was consisted of a white shirt under a light brown, long-sleeved blazer that was left unbuttoned and a blue tie. His brown trousers were standard-issue, so there wasn't anything special about it, and so were his black shoes. Like the girl's uniform, his blazer also had the shield crest with the triple S emblazoned on the left sleeve.

Back to the matter at hand, the two waited until the smoke in front of them cleared away. When it did, it revealed yet another figure walking towards them at a normal pace. At first glance, the figure was just a simple, harmless-looking girl with her long silver hair and wide golden eyes adorning her innocent yet expressionless face. On further notice, she was also clad in a school uniform—consisting of a buttoned light brown blazer that was paler in comparison to the earlier two people, a white shirt underneath with a bowtie adorning the collar, a dark brown skirt, and black shoes with long white socks—thus making her look very out of place coming out of the smoke. It would probably be confusing too that she was being targeted by the earlier handgun-wielding duo.

However, as she had a one-foot blade coming out of the sleeves of her blazers on both arms, she appeared much more dangerous than her appearance let on.

Tightening her grip on her handgun, the purple-haired girl darted forward. "Let's go!" She exclaimed. The boy followed closely behind her, his own handgun held in standby. It was only after a few steps later that the girl skidded to halt and crouched, lining up her pistol towards the silver-haired girl ahead of her and shot. The bullet immediately found its target; the silver-haired girl fell to one knee as the bullet wound up in her thigh. As painful as it should be, though, her face betrayed that supposed pain. No grimace; she didn't even flinch after taking the shot. Instead, she mouthed some words passively with a voice that sounded strangely robotic, "_Guard Skill: Distortion._"

The tall boy from the gun-wielding duo also opened fire; he began to shoot rapidly along with his female companion. Bullets after bullets flew towards their target. Yet, unlike the single bullet that the purple-haired girl shot earlier, they all bounced off a seemingly invisible wall which rippled in contact with the bullet (though it didn't let any pierce through). Now, as she was protected by the shield she created, the silver-haired girl relaxed and let her body heal from the bullet wound. Magically, the bullet embedded in her thigh was pushed out while her skin closed, effectively stopping her bleeding.

By the time, both the purple-haired girl and the orange-haired boy ceased their firing, seeing that it didn't do any damage. They looked at their opponent in shock as the purple-haired girl shouted, "She's responding too quickly!" And she was right. The silver-haired girl stood up again; her surprisingly fast healing factor rendering the earlier damage insignificant. Her hair flipped around at the sudden jerk, waving a bit before settling down again. Again, her expressionless face glowered with intimidation.

As any cornered person would, the orange-haired boy that her angelic eyes were set on raised his gun again. Of course, the boy knew now that once the invisible shield was activated, bullets wouldn't affect the girl. But if he could just slow her down…

Before he could pull the trigger, the girl beside him already took off in a sprint towards the other girl, pulling out a combat knife from her back. With a grunt, she stabbed her knife to the shorter girl in front of her, only to hit air as the silver-haired girl twirled to the side to avoid the attack. However, the bandana-wearing girl was already determined to be relentless and jumped back to stab again. Like before, her target proved to be too quick for her and dodged the attack again; this time by stepping to the side. Skidding to a stop, the knife-wielding girl prepared a sideways slash. She attacked, but was jerked back as her attack was blocked by left-hand blade that protruded from the silver-haired girl's sleeves.

The blade-on-blade exchange continued, leaving the sound of steel smashing steel ringing through the air. Left behind was the tall boy, who eyed the battle in awe. He almost didn't blink as he watched the battle rage on. "Amazing…" he said to himself, "She can hold her own in close combat?"

He didn't say that without a reason. The fact that they carried a gun in a fight against a mere girl proved that said girl was highly dangerous. And yet, while only armed with a combat knife, the purple-haired girl was toe to toe against that dangerous (though harmless-looking) girl.

At one point, the purple-haired girl was beginning to push her opponent back with relentless stabs; though those stabs were dodged time after time. In the middle of dodging the offending blade, the silver-haired girl uttered some words with her robotic voice again, "_Guard Skill: Delay._" Then, in an instant, the girl's speed increased as she seemingly dashed to her right, leaving a blurry-white afterimage in her wake. The move took the purple-haired girl by surprise, and in turn, she was caught off-guard. Seeing the opening, the silver-haired girl launched an attack using her right hand-blade.

Luckily, the purple-haired girl managed to spin out of the attack line, though it was more out of instinct rather than a thought-out movement. The girl moved in to counterattack, but the silver-haired girl once again disappeared in a burst of speed. This time, the speeding girl found another opening at the purple-haired girl's back.

Still shaken by the other girl's quick move, the purple-haired girl barely managed to block the attack; she even got pushed back by the blow. A significant range was created between the two. The silver one noticed this and used it to her advantage; she began to spin around and let her dual hand-blade dance wildly following her movements. Right at that instant, her movements were all a blur to the purple-haired combatant, and the two blades were moving at near untraceable speed. As it was, the blades began making countless hits at its designated target, cutting the purple-haired girl at numerous places. Said girl could only take the hits helplessly.

Only…if one were to look closely, no slash wounds were made. Strange…

The pain was still evident, though. The purple-haired girl's grunts were proof of that.

By the time, the orange-haired teenage boy had already raised his gun. However, as the two deadly females were moving too fast for him, he couldn't bring himself to take a shot lest he would accidentally make friendly fire. "Damnit!" he cursed aloud. His hands were trembling just to show how tense he was.

Then, after one upwards strike of the silver-haired girl's blade, the combat knife was thrown away from the purple-haired girl's grasp. Realizing her vulnerability without a weapon in hand, her sea-green eyes widened. The girl didn't know it, but as the silver-haired girl thrusted her right hand forward, the hand-blade's image reflected off her eyes. The prospect of dying shocked her too much to pay any attention to it (not that she could've seen it if she did).

Again, luck was on her side. Her male compatriot managed to dash in before the silver-haired girl managed to strike, knocking her away with a shoulder tackle. The momentum at which he was carrying himself with led him to fall down just as hard. The purple-haired girl that he saved didn't even have the time to sigh in relief. If she had, she didn't use it and instead voiced out her concern for her comrade, "Otonashi-kun!"

Before she could reach out to grab him, another voice interrupted her. "Move it, you two!"

Startled by the sudden voice, the girl turned around and saw something that wasn't exactly comforting. The shaft that she had climbed out of before had opened wider, it seemed, letting a giant red cannon go through it via a large elevator with several mechanics standing beside and behind it. Those people were on her side, but the sight a cannon which was more befitting for a battleship was enough to make her jaw slightly drop. She laughed lightly, "Looks like you guys can pull through if you try! That doesn't look like it's easy to make."

And it wasn't, honestly. Those mechanics were pure geniuses for being able to even make a blueprint out of it.

Knowing what those guys were up to, the purple-haired girl turned back to her male comrade, "Otonashi-kun, this way!" she said. The boy, whom she referred to as Otonashi, was looking at the cannon in both fear and awe before she called him. They then began to run and take cover in one of the entrance tunnel lining up on the sides of the huge cavern they were in. Once the cannon fire, it was obvious that it would make a huge explosion. Knowing better than to partake in such a dangerous predicament, they did what was logical.

One of the more enthusiastic mechanics then shouted out, anxious to test out their newly-crafted cannon, "Here we go!"

* * *

"Hm?" Naruto snapped out of his trance as he heard a loud rumbling sound. The sound itself wasn't that ear-piercing, but the vibration it brought on was enough to shake the whole place he was in. "What was that? An earthquake?"

"**I don't know. It's too weak to be an earthquake."** Kurama voiced out in the blonde's mind. **"Whatever that was, it isn't something natural."**

"You think someone's causing this?"

"**Perhaps. Though, I can't quite figure out how someone can make the earth itself tremble."**

"Guess we'll find out then." Naruto said, rising up to his feet. Well, rising up to his feet as far as his body would allow him to, at least. He couldn't even stand upright at the moment; he could only lay support on his bent knees. He trembled and groaned, but he was doing better than before. At least this time, he wasn't going to face-fault anytime soon.

"**Brat, stop it. Your body hasn't fully adjusted yet. You should give it more time."** Kurama warned. He had been monitoring Naruto's body since they both decided to sit down before, and while it was on its way to full recovery it was still miles away from finishing. Naruto should not move right now. He needed to stay still and rest his body while it recuperates from the resealing process.

"We won't have time for that if whatever created that sound turns out to be hostile." Naruto reasoned; his breath was shallow as he tried to control it, "After all, if we actually find someone, it'll help us too. Maybe they have shelter or something; I was freezing my ass off sitting on that floor."

"**And I'm telling you that it's not worth it! Listen, you have to rest up and let your body heal for a while. If you do otherwise, it would only harm yourself!"** Kurama chided. His host was too headstrong for his liking; so much that it gave him headaches at time. Hell, none of his previous Jinchûriki even matched up to his thick-headedness. His mom cut close, but it was either Minato's genes being headstrong too or developing thickness of the skull was an evolution unique only to the Uzumaki clan.

He'd blame Minato, of course.

Nothing personal, just to show how much Kurama hated that person.

…okay, so it's personal.

Of course, with his current level of skull thickness, Naruto ignored Kurama's warnings with a smirk and pushed himself to walk into a tunnel entrance, albeit a little limply. Inside, Kurama just sighed and palmed his face, wondering why none of the people that became his Jinchûriki ever hear him out. He wasn't a know-it-all saint, he knew, but the least they could do was to hear him out at times when he was actually concerned for their pitiful existence. It was not as if he was such a vengeful creature hell-bent on making their lives miserable.

Though there were those times…

Yeah, okay, so he was a vengeful creature, hell-bent on making their lives miserable. So sue him, this time he was actually concerned.

"Hah…hah…ha, hey, what is this place anyway?" Naruto asked all of the sudden. "This place is huge, but I haven't seen any sunlight ever since we got here. Are we in some kind of building?"

"**Possibly,"** Kurama answered, crossing his arms in front of his chest, **"though from the tremble that shook the whole place before, I surmise that we're underground. Otherwise that little quake wouldn't be able to make it look like the whole place was coming down."**

"Makes sense…*sigh* I wonder what we'll find on the other side…"

"…**you do realize that you just made a horrible pun don't you?"**

"What do you mean?"

"**You know, by saying 'the other side' while clearly being dead…right?"**

"Kurama, I don't know if that was supposed to be a joke, but your sense of humor sucks."

"**Well, tough luck brat, being ancient in terms of age tends to eat away your humor."**

Naruto snickered at Kurama's visible discontent. He might be saying that, but to be honest, the blond was kind of glad that the fox was able to joke (or make an attempt at it). It meant that he was opening up. Well, opening up as much as a cranky old fox demon could, unfortunately. Sometimes Naruto hoped that Kurama still retain his human form; he seemed a bit more likeable as so, and more open to human emotions. Beggars can't be choosers; he told himself that, that's why Naruto opted to make lemonade out of the lemon the world had given him.

'_But, in this case, shouldn't it be Rika-chan who gave me the lemon?'_ Naruto mused, once again using his intellect for pointless details, _'Hmm…'_

As he amused himself with his musing, while Kurama resumed his face-palming as he could hear every words his gullible Jinchûriki was thinking, Naruto failed to realize that he had walked quite a long distance from where he started off from. He realized that only when he saw light coming out from the other side of the tunnel. Blinking, he picked up his pace, limping quickly to the exit. Eventually, he came upon a clearing; one so large that he had to take time to realize that he was actually in a cave.

(Activate Soundtrack: _Aoi Eir – __Innocence_)

"Whoa…wicked awesome! Is this a cave? It's really big!" he exclaimed. Being the loud, obnoxious boy he was Naruto had failed to contain his excitement. Of course, it wasn't as if he wanted to contain it anyway. He looked around, still in awe of the humongous cave he was in. He hadn't seen any cave this big, unless that sand grotto in the Land of Wind's desert counts. On closer inspection, though, the supposed 'cave' didn't look all that natural. Judging by the curved uprising that was the walls of the cave, it looked more like a big-ass tunnel.

'_You think that somebody's here, Kurama?'_ Naruto mentally asked to his tenant.

"**It's hard to say anything as it is now. I don't see any signs of life around here."**

'_Me neither, but still…wait, what the hell is…?'_ Naruto nearly blanched at the sight that he accidentally came upon. A good distance ahead of him, there was a girl; her long silver hair reaching her waist, while a bit of it was tied into a single ponytail. The short girl's strange choice of hairstyle wasn't as strange as her choice of clothing, which Naruto saw consisted of a skirt and a long-sleeved something. There was a pair of blades protruding from her sleeves, which Naruto stared at with a blank face. All he could surmise was that the girl was a ninja (the logical answer for all oddities in his life). However, that wasn't what made him fear-stricken all of the sudden.

It was because dead ahead of the girl was a huge-ass cannon aimed at her.

"What the FUCK is she doing, standing there like an idiot?! That cannon's gonna fire!" Naruto gritted his teeth. Forgoing the dull pain in his body, he pushed himself forward and dashed towards the girl, screaming his throat hoarse in attempt to get her moving, "Oi! Get moving, that thing's gonna blow!"

The girl seemed to notice his voice; proven as she turned around the moment she heard him and faced the blond with the strangest shade of golden eyes that he had ever seen. They weren't hideous; quite the contrary, to be honest. They seem too angelic to be human. Shaking his head while keeping his speed constant, he yelled out again, "Don't you hear me?! I said get the hell outta here!"

The girl's response was to merely tilt her head in confusion, her wide eyes regarding Naruto with untold curiosity. Naruto cursed under his breath, "Fucking great… Is she deaf or something?"

"**If she was deaf, she wouldn't turn around when you called her."** Kurama answered the blonde's question.

'_True enough. That means she's either playing with me or that cannon isn't really going to fire at her.'_ Naruto thought back.

"All hands, take cover!" Said a male voice loudly.

'_DAMN, they really are gonna shoot at her!'_ Naruto was still a good twenty steps away from the girl, which was bad considering that whoever was operating the cannon they were preparing to shoot already. "HEY, I SAID GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE, IDIOT!"

"**Brat, stop! You can't go there; that cannon blast will tear you to shreds!"**

'_I have to try, Kurama. I have to try SOMETHING at least!'_

"**You have no chakra in your dead body, boy! Be mindful of that! Whatever you're going to do, you won't be able to do it without your chakra!"**

Naruto knew that Kurama was right. Up to that moment, he was still thinking of doing things that would require chakra to do. Now he realized that he couldn't do any of it. "Damn it…move it, you idiot!"

No matter how hard Naruto urged the girl to move out of the cannon's line of fire, she wasn't budging an inch. His eyes widened, realizing the cold fact about the silver-haired girl. She was a lost cause. He couldn't save her, no matter what he'd do. _'It's no use…I can't save her. Damnit! The first person I met in this crazy world and I can't even save her from being blasted apart!'_ He was tired, damn it! He was tired of all of this; exhausted, even! He continued being helpless, no matter what world he was in. Why can't he do anything?

Right then, it was as if time stopped for Naruto. Whoever stopped his time, he was sure that they were mocking him by doing this; mocking him by burning the image of the girl right before her untimely death as cannon fodder, reminding him that nothing had changed. He couldn't save his world then, he couldn't save that girl now—

'_NO!'_ Naruto roared in his mind, his azure eyes set ablaze with raw, undeterred will. _'I WILL save that girl. I won't let her, or anyone die as long as I'm here! I won't fail, I won't fail, I WON'T FAIL!'_ Memories of his old world rushed into his mind; memories of how he fell, how he failed to protect it, and how he selfishly wished for it to end…never more.

Once again, after a very long time, his will of fire lit up in a fiery explosion.

_I'm tired of failing!_, his will seemed to roar along with Naruto's own thoughts.

"This world," Naruto muttered; his right hand outstretched beside him as light began to envelop it, "will LIVE!"

"**NARUTO!" **Kurama bellowed in the Naruto's mind, desperately trying to stop the blonde's advance. His desperate cries were ceased, however, when he noticed strange energy lighting up in Naruto's body. He narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out where the energy was coming from. Whatever the energy is, it was streaming throughout Naruto's body in a miniscule but steady flow. Kurama let his heightened senses guide him in his search for the strange energy's source. What he found surprised him so much he choked in a gasp. **"This…this isn't chakra...but why is it coming from inside his body? What is this?!"**

The light began to grow brighter, expanding and lightening the area surrounding it. It began to get so bright that everyone in the vicinity had to be blind not to notice a speeding light coming from the silver-haired girl's front that was facing that light. The previous gun-wielding duo that were currently hiding in an entranceway tunnel together with a bearded, older-looking male also noticed this and the purple-haired girl of the group peeked from her spot. "What…is that light?"

Her companion, whom she earlier called Otonashi, looked on with jaws completely agape. "Yuri…is that Angel's doing?"

The girl, Yuri, shook her head, "I think the light is coming from behind her. It's not her…" she said as she narrowed her eyes in thought. As a thought entered her mind, her eyes widened all at once, "Don't tell me that's…God?"

"What!?" Otonashi exclaimed in disbelief.

Naruto was close to the girl right now. To his shock and confusion, she hadn't made move yet. All she did was to peer curiously at him with her wide golden eyes. Naruto had to hand it to her, the girl was fearless. Though, it seemed as though she was a tad bit too expressionless instead. Strange girl, indeed.

"FIRE!" The dreaded voice of the mechanics behind the cannon came.

"Not on my watch." Naruto uttered under his breath. The light in his right hand spun around, taking a form. It whirred like a spinning top on Naruto's outstretched hand, spinning in its place like a whirlwind of light. The light compressed, turning into a more obvious shape of a giant orb.

"**That…can't…it can't be!"** Kurama let out in disbelief, **"This isn't chakra he's using, but this move…!"**

As he reached the silver-haired girl, Naruto took a brief glance at her. Her eyes were still on him, locked on him and tracking his every movement. It was as if she was cautious of him, but didn't act to that suspicion otherwise. Azure blue eyes broke its contact with the golden eyes as Naruto dashed lunged forward with a forceful kick to the ground, whipping the air around him. The girl's silver hair waved around wildly at the wind's blow.

This time, Naruto attention was on the cannon. It had just exploded as it set off a shot on its way. The cannonball advanced, bringing a cloud of dust along in its wake. Naruto gritted his teeth as he pulled his arm back before thrusting his arm along with the giant ball of whirling light forward to meet the cannonball with a loud battle cry.

"_OODAMA RASENGAN!_"

The _Oodama Rasengan_ clashed with something inside the dust cloud. As it did, a destructive explosion erupted, cracking the ground beneath him and around him. He was managing to hold out against the massive momentum that the cannonball had gathered, but the strange energy of his—whatever the energy was—wouldn't last forever. Naruto knew that; even though the energy felt alien to him, he knew enough that it wasn't as durable as his chakra once was. So, he resorted to the next thing he had in mind.

The _Oodama Rasengan_ took a lot of focus for it to condense into an orb. If someone who used it loses that focus, it would go out in a bang.

And that was exactly what Naruto was aiming.

As he let his focus break, so did the _Oodama Rasengan_ as it exploded in a ray of light, flinging the cannonball away from him while throwing him away from the forceful explosion. The blonde rolled numerous times before stopping with his face down, unmoving. He fell unconscious after exerting so much power from his being so suddenly. Kurama was working his tails off trying to figure out how to stabilize his jailor's body. It wasn't helping that the energy from before was gone, leaving a huge gap in Naruto's unused chakra network. That gap was hungry for energy.

(Deactivate soundtrack)

Meanwhile, the people who were on the opposite side were trying to take it all in, while trying to figure out what the hell just happened. Yuri, who was now already standing up from her hiding place, looked flabbergasted after seeing what she thought she had seen. The cannon blast was stopped by a person who wielded light in his hand. At first, she thought that it was God who came in rushing like that. However, that was just her being irrational. Now that she thought about it, all she saw was a spiky-haired blonde teenager.

"That's a person…" she muttered, still unable to belief her eyes. "How did he get here?!"

Not far from her, the mechanics were groaning as they lay on their backs, a pained smile on their faces. "The cannon…" one of them said.

"It was stopped, just like that…"

"Not to mention it's nothing more than scrap metal now."

"Tch…I guess we can't just put together stuff we don't remember…"

Yuri felt a sudden urge to slam her elbows into the last person that said that; an urge that was quenched when Otonashi darted from his place towards the unconscious blond in the center of the whole mess. "Otonashi-kun, what are you doing?! Get back here!"

"We need to get that guy out of here!" Otonashi shouted his response, not slowing down on his advance.

"No! That's dangerous!" Yuri shouted again, watching as the red-haired boy disappeared into the new cloud of dust that had arisen. Cursing, she turned away from the cloud of dust and faced the other person she was hiding with; an older-looking male with long, jagged brown hair that hid the left side of his face who wore a pair of goggles on his head. The man was wearing a mechanic suit, not unlike the ones worn by the other mechanics who operated the cannon. A beard trailed down his jaw line, ending in a sharp triangular shape on his cheeks.

"Chaa-san, hold off the explosion for 20 seconds. I'm going in to get Otonashi-kun. If I'm not back in that 20 seconds, just blow this place up!" she ordered. Strangely enough, even though Chaa looked older than Yuri, he didn't have a problem in nodding in agreement to her order. However, a concerned frown made its way up his face, "Are you sure that's enough time for you to get back?"

"Well, it's not like I'll die if it's not anyway." Yuri replied carelessly with a shrug before charging in the dust cloud. Back in the entranceway tunnel, Chaa sighed tiredly. "Damn right…" he muttered.

In the dust cloud, Otonashi was trying his best to search for the downed blond while shielding his eyes from any offending dusts. "Damn, where is he?!" he mused aloud. As his eyes squinted to catch the littlest glimpse of a figure, he caught sight of one. Bad news was that figure was standing. Worse news was that figure was too short to be the blond that he saw before. When the dust and smoke cleared around the figure, his fear was proven correct.

"Angel…"

The silver-haired girl, known simply as 'Angel', didn't even react to Otonashi's presence. It was as if she knew that he was there all along. Otonashi was different in that regard; he hurriedly pulled out his gun and held it ready in front of him, standing-by for any sudden attack that the harmless-looking girl might execute. Her hand-blades did nothing to calm him down.

To his utter surprise, instead of lunging in and stabbing those hand-blades to his chest like she did when they first met, she made them disappear; multiple array of bright light accompanying the blades' vanishing in what could be described as flying data manuscripts. Then, as she raised her bladeless hand to her side, Angel pointed to a certain direction. "He's over there." She said passively.

"Eh?" Otonashi let out dumbly. For a moment, he let Angel's words hang in the air, wondering who she was referring to. Then he remembered why he was there in the first place. That blond kid…was Angel showing him where he is?

Following Angel's gesture, Otonashi found himself staring at the prone form of the aforementioned blond kid. Without wasting any time, he ran up to the unconscious blond and slid to a crouch at his side. Seeing as the blond was lying on his stomach, Otonashi flipped him to the side, wondering if the boy was okay. He was relieved when he saw that the blond was breathing slowly; the red-haired teenager would've missed it if it weren't for the adrenaline rushing in his body heightening his senses.

'_His breathing is normal. That's a relief… His pulses are normal, and his pupils…wait a minute, what the hell am I doing right now?'_ Otonashi's train of thought crashed as that one question entered his mind. How he could take note of all the things that were classified as 'normal' on an unconscious person was beyond him; not to mention he felt like he knew what he was doing.

His gut told him that this oddity had a connection with his amnesia. Whether that was true or not, he surmised that it wasn't the right time to find out. Right now, he needed to get the kid out of here. Yet again, the strange feeling struck him. Why was it that he felt he needed to get the blond kid to safety? Why did he feel such a strong urge to save strangers?

'_To hell with it, I don't have time to think about it now!'_ Otonashi thought furiously. He began to pick the blonde's arm up and slung it over his shoulders, but stopped midway through his work as he saw Angel standing in front of him. He tensed, thinking that she was going to attack. However, he couldn't help but notice that she wasn't exactly doing anything at all. Rather, she was eyeing the two of them with a curious look on her face.

"What do you want?" Otonashi asked, cautiously watching the silver-haired girl's behavior. The girl merely tilted her head, further accentuating her curious look. She was silent for not more than a second before she answered Otonashi's question, "I'm a little…confused."

"And this comes from the one who confuses me the most." Otonashi said, a sweat-drop forming on his forehead. He was astounded by how the girl could maintain a plain face even with confusion she claimed to have, though that must be why the others called her 'Angel'. And, just to remind himself, he was probably more confused than Angel is. For this single moment, the greatest enemy that the _Shinda Sekai Sensen_ (Afterlife Battlefront) had didn't show any hostility to its member. Granted, Otonashi was new to the Battlefront, but he was a member no less and he was clearly not on Angel's side.

Yet, unlike times before, Angel didn't attack him (well, not him in particular), simply because the appearance of an enigmatic blond confused the hell out of her. If he didn't know better, Otonashi would've called this a miracle. As he knew better, he knew that he was just in luck.

"Otonashi-kun! Where are you?! Come on, Chaa-san is gonna blow this whole place up!" Yuri's voice permeated the relatively silent air. Otonashi perked up at the call and managed to pinpoint where the voice came from. Standing up to his feet, he made another cautious glance at Angel out of pure worry. Realizing that she wasn't attacking, he began to jog quickly away from the place. He stopped for a while, glancing behind his left shoulder towards the silver-haired girl.

Once again, that strange urge to save someone struck him. Knowing that he would be wasting time trying to figure out where it came from, the red-haired teen just said, "You better get out of here, too. This place is gonna…well, you know."

Inside, he was banging his head on an imaginative wall, _'Stupid me! Why am I warning her about it? This whole thing was set up to stop her, so telling her about it would mess the whole plan!'_ He hated thinking like a villain like that. However, as it was his brigade captain Yuri's plan to stop Angel's advance on the Guild, he needed to go with it. Or so he thought, of course, before that messiah complex of him kicked in.

Angel nodded at him. She turned on her heels and left shortly without saying anything else.

Otonashi sighed, _'Well, at least she didn't reach the Guild like Yuri said she would...'_ he thought optimistically. Adjusting his hold on the unconscious blond kid, he then ran towards the last place he heard Yuri's voice coming from. Well, ran as he might, it was pretty hard to do it while carrying a knocked out person whose feet were dragging along the ground. A few seconds later, he bumped into Yuri who was running to his opposite direction.

"Ouch!" Darn it, she had a hard head.

"Ugh, that hurt. What in the WORLD do you think you were doing?! That was really an idiotic move, darn it. Angel's still out there, you know." Yuri chided angrily, glaring daggers into Otonashi's eyes. He flinched under the girl's angry glare, but walked past her with a confident stride. "We don't have time to discuss this right now." He said to her.

"Oh, so NOW we don't?" Yuri muttered under her breath as a tick mark appeared on her temple. She was mature enough not to press the matter further, though, and followed Otonashi out of the dust cloud.

As they finally got out of the smokes and regrouped back with Chaa—who was actually disobeying Yuri's order by patiently waiting for them for over twenty seconds—in the tunnel. The older-looking male's hand gripped the handle of a dynamite detonator in front of him; the dynamite themselves had been distributed throughout the Guild's whole area. He glanced at Yuri, "Are we good to go?"

"The 20 seconds are up, isn't it?" Yuri asked back.

Not expecting such an answer, Chaa shrugged his shoulders and pushed the handle down forcefully. On cue, the dynamites under the ground they were standing began to set off one by one; explosions after explosions shaking the very foundation of the Guild. "Well, that does it. Let's get out of here!" Chaa yelled out, already feeling anxious of escaping from the broken place. It seemed Yuri agreed to his suggestion as she nodded and turned around to go further into the tunnel. Otonashi followed shortly, but he had trouble carrying the mysterious blond kid on his side. Noticing the red-haired boy's difficulty, Chaa went back and slung the blond's other arm over his shoulder to help.

Surprised but thankful nonetheless, Otonashi managed a smile and nodded gratefully; two actions which Chaa mirrored in acknowledgement. With the present difficulty set aside, they caught up to Yuri who was waiting for them just a bit ahead of them. Not a moment later, all signs of life left the Guild's vicinity, leaving behind a crumbling cavern soon to be history.

* * *

_A new path has been carved  
Retreat is not an option  
Not anymore_

* * *

_And time passed…_

After what had to be their most vital operation yet, the Afterlife Battlefront members had actually earned their rest.

However, as of the moment, 'rest' was something considered as the last thing on the members' minds; even though they practically exhausted themselves just by completing the 'Guild Descent' operation. Just as they reached back to their Anti-Angel Headquarters (which happened to be the school principal's office), Yuri had seized everyone in the room and called upon a meeting to be started. Their commander wasn't exactly the most tolerable person in the world, and they had got that figured a long time ago. Unlike her usual hyped self, though, it seemed that the matter they were discussing was serious.

As in, business-serious.

The kind of serious you wouldn't want to kid with.

And the reason for the lack of resting time was a newcomer who had—according to Yuri and Otonashi—came out of nowhere. Not only that, but Yuri had briefed them all on the fact that this 'new kid' wasn't entirely normal.

"Did he tell you who he was?" an indigo-haired, bespectacled teenager asked Yuri. He was standing up and was leaning to a wall next to the office door, pushing his glasses closer to his face with his index and middle finger. He thought that it made him somewhat cool. People would say that it was just Takamatsu being an idiot; one who pushed his glasses every time before speaking up. To be described, he looked like an average teen; perhaps as tall as Otonashi, slight wave to his mid-length hair, and a lean physique covered with the SSS uniform.

Yuri was seated on what was supposed to be the principal's chair, improperly putting her feet on the desk in front of her. While it gave her the mean, bossy-boss look as she did so, she might not be as aware about that. That being said, none of the people present seemed to be aware that she was unintentionally showing her long, stocking-covered legs. It may be the lack of tact, or it may be the supreme overload of it; either one of the two contradicting possibilities. "He passed out shortly after he used some kind of strange power to deflect a blast from the cannon that the Guild guys made." She finally answered after a moment of silence, "We didn't even get to talk to him."

"Deflecting a cannon blast, huh?" another teen wondered aloud; this one had a striking blue hair which was long enough for the bangs to cover his forehead and royal blue eyes. He was garbed in the same SSS uniform as most of the other male members there was using. "And I thought Angel was crazy-strong. How does he look like, Yurippe? Most of us haven't really met him."

"Find that out yourself. I don't have time to discuss his appearance right now."

"Ugh…that's rude, Yurippe." The boy whined.

"Anyway," Yuri interjected before he could get on her nerves. Classic Hinata Hideki, she probably should've figured; he wouldn't stop nagging you for the things he was curious of, even if you had already given him clear signs of annoyance. "We'll have to think about what we're going to do with our strange guest. Whoever he is, I don't think we should be careless on handling him. From what I figured from his behavior, he might have connections with Angel in some sort of way."

Another boy—one who had spiky dark purple hair, dilated pupils of the same color, tanned skin and a large, axe-like halberd propped between his left arm and shoulder—perked up at Yuri's explanation, "Connections with Angel? You mean he's her ally?" He growled at the prospect, brandishing the halberd he was holding. "If he turns out to be the enemy as well, I'll just hack him to pieces."

'_Calm yourself, Yuri.'_ The girl thought with ire, _'It's just Noda being his typical self, completely forgetting the fact that he'll just waste his time killing someone who can't die. Take a deep breath…'_

"I can't say anything about him being Angel's ally, yet. However, the fact remains that he practically saved her from being hit by the cannon blast. Right now, it's better to be doubtful without taking any unnecessary actions." Yuri answered flatly. She didn't want to assume anything right now, not without solid proof. So, as it was, she needed her subordinates to relax, but at the same time be vigilant and cautious of the blond enigma they had come across. She sighed, "At the worst possible outcome, we might alert Angel if we do anything out of the ordinary to him; considering, of course, his possible relation with Angel."

"Guh…I don't get why we're being so nervous about this kind of thing. Why don't we just lock him up somewhere, just to be safe?" Suggested a male teen whose short black hair shielded his squinty eyes under its fringes. He looked…kind of like your everyday punk/gangster except for the _shirasaya_ he was wielding (_shirasaya_ is basically a katana with no guard; it looks like a normal _bokuto_ when sheathed). "That way we can keep him away from Angel!"

"And where do you suppose that kind of place would be?" Yuri countered, "Angel has already found out about Guild, which was supposed to be our secret factory. If you can name another place that can be more secretive than that, I'm all ears, Fujimaki-kun."

The young man, named Fujimaki, bristled under the statement before turning away muttering profanities. Yuri sighed, wondering what other useless ideas that her subordinates might conjure. Tired of logically reasoning with them for their every suggestion, Yuri decided to finalize it, "For now, we'll let him be. Doing something careless will not work to our advantage, so we'll just let it flow naturally until he's conscious enough to answer our questions."

Despite her slightly ambiguous answer, the others left it at that and put that particular problem of discerning which side the blond was on hold. However, being the overly-cautious person he was, Otonashi couldn't help but start up another topic, "So…what do you want us to do with him right now?"

Yuri fell silent and crossed her arms—formerly rested on the chair's hand-rest—in front of her chest. A contemplative look was etched on her face as she tried to think of the next strategy she should take. Contrary to what she implied to her subordinates, she herself couldn't help but be a little restless at the whole outcome. She clearly didn't expect some stranger popping up in the Guild with no apparent reason. After all, from her experience, every newcomer to this world should've appeared above the ground rather than under it in some place like the Guild. She might be wrong in that regard, though, so she didn't trust her instincts on that.

Then there was the unexpected power he generated when he took on the blast from the cannon. That light…she still couldn't figure out what that was all about, but even she could feel the power radiating from it. Whatever that was, it wasn't normal. Speaking of normal, Angel's powers weren't normal either. That was one connection that the silver-haired girl had with the blond-haired boy.

She couldn't neglect the worried feeling in her gut that told her the boy wasn't merely anyone, either. The fact that he helped Angel with powers similar to hers, risking his life by doing so, led her to believe in one thing. The boy did NOT appear without any apparent reason, and that reason was there because the timing felt too perfect to be just coincidence. Maybe he suddenly appeared because he was called. Maybe it was Angel that called him, or sent a signal of distress.

"_Maybe…he really is the God that we've been all searching for.'_ Yuri wondered to herself, planting her cheek on her right hand, held high supported by the elbow placed on the desk. The thought made her frown in confusion. _'Or…is he?'_

Well, there wasn't enough progress that she would do if she wasted her time on thinking about it herself. Right now, all she could do was to interrogate that enigmatic blond and hopefully get some answers out of him. She knew enough that, if the possibility of him being God was taken out, then he was just another person who died and was sent here for some other reason; not unlike the members of the Afterlife Battlefront themselves. If that proved to be the truth, then she would need to do what she always did to lost souls like that.

Enlist him to the only battlefront that went against God.

Finally, Yuri came up with a plan. "I'll need some people to keep watch on him. Hinata-kun, Noda-kun, you two go to the infirmary and see if he's awake. If he's not, then guard him until he does. There's a slight possibility that Angel could be looking for him, and who knows what'll happen if she finds her 'ally', so to speak."

"EEEH? Why me?!" The blue-haired boy, referred by Yuri as Hinata (might the author remind you, however, that he prefers to call him Hideki for obvious reasons), asked loudly as he sounded completely against the idea.

"Well, you said it yourself that you want to see how he looks like, didn't you?" Yuri stated with a suspiciously-sweet tone in her voice, "And remember why you're even here in the first place."

"You sound like I'm not supposed to be here…" the boy muttered before standing up and thumbed his chest proudly, yet made him look like a narcissist, "Like it or not, I'm also one of the SSS's founding members like you! So I'm not really out of picture just by being here."

"Really? I thought you were here to be my inconspicuous lab rat." Yuri remarked, not actually caring what her narcissistic battlefront member had to say. It wasn't that what he said was wrong; he WAS one of the founding members of the Afterlife Battlefront, which made him its co-founder. However, as stated before, she didn't really care about that. "Just shut up and do it, already. It doesn't really matter what you do in the meantime; just keep an eye on him, and that's all."

"Sounds good to me, Yurippe." Noda said before dragging Hideki by the collar and went through the office's double door entrance, "Come on, slowpoke; because Yuri said so."

"WHY DON'T I EVER HAVE A SAY IN THINGS LIKE THIIIIS?!" Hideki yelled as Noda proceeded to drag him further away from the office, leaving the room silent with all of its inhabitants staring at the doorway with individually different expressions.

Otonashi with his lips pursed into a flat line as were his eyes, added with a sweat-drop materializing on the back of his head.

The gigantic teen that was Matsushita (Matsushita 5th Dan to others, simply Matsu if the author feels lazy)—a brunette of huge stature—making the same facial expression, but that was only because that was how his face usually was.

Yuri was simply being Yuri with her flat expression, apparently not really affected by the scene before her.

The silent, raven-haired Shiina—a teen girl of little to no words at all—ducking the lower part of her face into her dark blue scarf, muttering "How shallow-minded…" as she always did.

Takamatsu was being Takamatsu, pushing his glasses up his nose while appearing to be uneasy.

Fujimaki looked perplexed at the scene, but otherwise did nothing but stare at the doorway with his squinty glaring eyes.

A short, dark reddish-haired boy—who looked even more misplaced than Otonashi did—known as Ooyama, laughed nervously at the awkward atmosphere. Seriously, he could probably even be described as a tulip in a field of roses, just to refine how out of place he looked in that group of crazies. What, with those light green eyes and baby-faced look, you'd think that he was more suited to live in a normal, non-crazy life.

Unfortunately, he was dead.

Bummer.

And TK (short for I-have-no-freaking-idea-since-it-was-how-they-call-him) being the easy-going, tactless blond he was, danced a little while saying, "God save my king." There was an absolute aura of idiocy when TK went all 'dancing like a Jagger' like that. It didn't matter that the red headband that covered his forehead down to his eyes made him look cool; he STILL looked like an idiot. In other words, he was a cool idiot, no matter how much that reference made no sense.

It was also still a mystery how—out of all the other SSS members—TK was the only one prone to spouting English nonsense at the most unexpected times.

"All right, now that that is dealt with," Yuri started, her voice demanding attention from her subordinates, "our next step is to figure out a way to keep that strange kid from Angel. Though, I don't really know what we have to do, considering that we don't even know how we should handle him."

"_Ano_…do we really have to think so thoroughly about it? We're kind of being overcautious now, I think…" Ooyama commented, discomfort clearly written on his face. "He might be someone like us. Maybe he also died and went here like all of us."

"I know that. But, on the off-chance that the probability of him being Angel's ally being a reality, we have to prepare ourselves with something." Yuri shot back. She stood up slowly, making the chair she sat on wheel back in response. "Going against Angel means that we have a high probability to disappear as she intended. 'Overcautious' is just what we have to be."

Takamatsu nodded in agreement, "Good point."

Otonashi, for his part, wasn't particularly keen on taking sides. He knew Yuri was right; caution was the key, no matter what they were going to do. But his conscience told him that the blond—whoever he actually was—couldn't be that far off from Ooyama's depiction. And somehow…

Somehow he just knew that Yuri's plan wouldn't proceed so easily.

* * *

When Hideki and Noda reached the infirmary, they'd already thought that the task given to them would be the most troublesome one they had upheld. And honestly, they hadn't changed their minds about it.

Sure, their charge was still peacefully sleeping (or not) clad in his strange black-and-orange outfit and that gangster-like headband. But that sleeping blond wasn't so much of the cause of their discomfort as the task of babysitting him was.

For Hideki, while Yuri was just simply being her usual tormenting self, he was sure that she gave this one specific torment especially for him. Be it because her bottomless annoyance towards him or whatever, he just knew so. Truthfully, sitting on a chair beside an unconscious blond boy while literally babysitting his sleeping ass out was more than he could—and would—handle. Add to the fact that 'Squinty-Eyes' Noda (a nickname given only to two people of the Battlefront, including Fujimaki) was standing across of him on the other side of the bed; halberd in hand and glares being shot throughout the whole room.

Despite himself, the blue-haired teen sighed, "Hey, loosen up, Noda. It's not like Angel's going to appear out of nowhere and attack the both of us."

"Are you kidding?! Of course Angel would try something like that!" Noda countered the remark, "We'll have to be ready for her WHEN she comes; there's not an 'if' in the matter. After all, this guy…he helped Angel, you know? So, like I said, it's in Angel's nature to do something crazy!"

'_On what basis do you think you're stating that from?'_ Hideki thought, giving the purple-haired, halberd-wielding teen a critical eye. He sighed, raking his hands through his shiny blue hair, "I'm just saying, getting tense over nothing would make this whole guarding duty a lot more boring. Maybe if you would just relax and think of something up to help pass the time, we'd be out of here in no time at all."

"Hmm..." Noda's eyes rose to the ceilings, his face scrunched up in thought. "That IS a good idea. However, I doubt that you would be able to keep up with me in a _suburi_ contest." He said with a smug smirk.

"Who the hell said anything about a CONTEST?! I meant games, darn it! Poker, chess…hell, I'll even play Battleship if that's what you have in mind!" Hideki yelled aloud. He obviously had no fear of waking their unconscious charge up, judging by the way he reacted. Noda didn't do so different as well; raising his voice as he yelled back at Hideki, "You think I would just sit and play freaking BOARD games with you?! That'll be even more boring than sitting here doing nothing at all!"

For most people, incompatibilities between them and other people usually appear when they have more than a few different preferences. Considering the fact that Hideki and Noda could easily be classified as 'most people' (because, really, they were) that rule applied to them, too. Suffice to say, they had too many differences between the two of them. (For now, the author's words are going to contain potential spoilers. But, meh, great power comes with great possibilities)

Hideki was a baseball player—a catcher, to be precise—of his time (he could've probably been one of the best if he didn't die back then). In other words, he was a boy with sunlit road.

Noda was actually a _hikikomori_; a loner who stayed in home most of the times, playing online games and whatnot. In divergence to Hideki, his road was probably as shadowed as his room—the one he owned when he was alive—was.

So, yeah, you don't actually put these two in the same room for too long. Even though both were idiots (which might be why Yuri sent the two of them rather than anybody else), they were incompatible idiots.

"That's why I'm telling you! Just a normal game would be fine! Not every game has to be played with muscles without using your brain, you know." Hideki remarked, only to find the spearhead of Noda's unique halberd pointing closely to his neck. The holder of said halberd was glaring at the blue-haired teen *cough*idiot*cough* with what one would call icy, capable-of-countering-_Amaterasu_ glare.

"Bastard… Are you saying that I don't have brains?"

"Uh…that wasn't what I was saying, actually."

"But you implied so."

"Um…I wasn't exactly implying anything, so…"

"SHADDAP! I know what you were saying, and I damn know what you implied," Noda shouted, inching his halberd closer to Hideki's neck, "so if you don't want to lose your neck I advice that you take that back!"

Hideki was scared, to be honest. One should be if they were held at gunpoint...er, halberd-point by an idiot who clearly misunderstood what that person said. When compared to something that could equalize the intensity of the situation, it would be wise to say that anyone in that position would feel like they were being pointed with a Gundam Suit's beam cannon.

Not to exaggerate, but anyone would feel so.

However, fear is but an emotion which constantly shifts in terms of what causes it. If something more frightening—with malice that overpowered the former fear factor—ever appeared after the first one, it would pull that fear to them like magnet. In this case, as much as Hideki feared Noda's halberd for its owner's tendencies to slam or stab it to the nearest annoying living being, he couldn't help but fear the hand that suddenly enclosed itself on the shaft while effectively pulling it away from his neck.

And neither could he brave the sight of the blond, who that hand belonged to, glaring daggers at Noda with narrowed eyes.

"What the _FUCK_ do you think you're doing!?"

* * *

Naruto didn't expect to be unconscious.

Really, he didn't. Although he did use up all that chakra (though Kurama had told him that it was another kind of energy entirely), he hadn't thought that a single _Oodama Rasengan_ would take so much out of him. Back when he was alive, he could generate hundreds of them with ease!

Well, okay, not hundreds. Simply fifty of it might make him sweat, though it still wouldn't tire him out.

Without anything else to do to wait for his body to wake up, Naruto had ended up talking to Kurama for the sake of boredom-killing. While he hadn't really paid any attention to the fox's long and complicated explanation of the strange energy Naruto had apparently awaken, he was curious to why Kurama seemed to be more than mildly wary of it. Truthfully, the blond hadn't felt any different than usual.

After dismissing Kurama's suspicion as plain paranoia, Naruto had finally gained enough strength to wake up. And as he did so, he hadn't expect to be in some place he didn't remember being in before. He remembered being in a huge underground cave; now he saw creamy white ceilings and a faint smell of medicine. He didn't find it shocking that he ended up in an infirmary; he had a feeling that he would.

He found it shocking, however, that the first thing he saw after waking up was a purple-haired teen holding a spearheaded-halberd to another blue-haired teen's neck.

And in that instant, his ninja reflexes jumped into high gear.

One would find it shocking that the reflexes he had when he was alive were still intact. Apparently, those two did. And as rage welled up inside Naruto for the young man who dared to threaten another person, all that he meant to ask came out as a growl, "What the _FUCK_ do you think you're doing!?"

"Wha—?" Noda let out, shock overriding his body and freezing him in his spot, "You're awake?!"

"Get the hell away from him." Naruto ordered, continuing as if Noda's question were meaningless to him. The blonde's grip on the purple-haired teen's halberd tightened as his eyes narrowed in conjunction. He went to pull the halberd away from Noda, only to find himself struggling to do so. Even so, he managed to line the halberd away from its blue-haired target. Glaring at the halberd's owner, he growled once again.

"Ha?" Noda let out, his own eyes narrowed dangerously as he glared back at Naruto, "What's with that tone, brat? You looking for a fight?"

Hideki, for his part, cringed and moved away from the two when he realized that things were getting out of hand. "O-Oi, Noda…" he stammered out, "We're supposed to guard him, right? Challenging him to a fight isn't really on our to-do list."

At this, Naruto had to blink in surprise. For a moment, he was caught off-guard and his attention diverted to the blue-haired teen to his right, "Wait, you're supposed to guard me? What does that suppose to—" When Naruto realized that he was losing the feeling of a shaft between his fingers and palm, he cursed. He made to grab hold of the halberd once again.

Too late.

Just as Naruto's grip on the halberd slackened, Noda had already pulled away and strained his arms to take a swing at the blonde. The moment he released all of the pent up power, Noda's halberd became all but a blur as it came over to Naruto in a matter of seconds. Eyes widening, Naruto let out another curse, "Holy-!" which, by the way, was only spoken halfway done. No, it wasn't because he was already halved by that halberd. It was because the blonde had already taken a quick jump backwards and crashed into a window.

*CRASH!*

As the window broke into a million pieces, the black-orange blur that was Naruto shot through it and continued the flight towards the ground below. The blonde skidded into a halt, thanking whoever was smart enough to not remove his sandals. He was sure if he didn't have them on, he would've skinned his feet. He raised his face, peering into the hole he'd just made to search for his halberd-wielding assailant. As expected, that purple-haired guy was there, standing on the edges of the broken windowsill with his halberd sustained over his shoulders.

"Crap…" Naruto swore to himself, "Guess the resident people here aren't as friendly as I thought."

"Huh…you think you can run away from me?" Noda asked aloud; his voice loud enough to reach Naruto's ears. The taller teen smirked maliciously at his opponent, "Then you have another thing coming, you gutless coward!"

'_It's not as if I'm afraid of you, bastard…'_ Naruto thought angrily, turning around in preparation to escape, _'But fighting in an infirmary would only endanger other people. If we're fighting, then I'll kick your ass someplace else.'_ With that in thought, Naruto sped off in search for a vacant place to fight, disappearing in a burst of shadow-blur maneuver. Noda, of course, took this as an act of cowardice and bristled.

"Why that little…he's running away?!" Noda yelled.

Hideki sighed and nearly face-palmed himself at Noda's idiocy. He gave Noda a withering look, looking almost disappointed in him, "No, you idiot, you chased him away! And judging by his position, I would've done the same!"

"Heh! Then you're just as much of a chicken as that strange kid is!" Noda declared arrogantly, hefting his halberd as he geared back for a jump. "Whatever, right now I'm gonna chase that guy down!" Not a second later, Noda ran towards the vacant bed—previously the place where the blonde laid down—and jumped onto it before lunging towards the broken window. Hideki nearly clawed his hair out and screamed, "AND I'M TELLING YOU THAT YOU'RE JUST SCARING HIM AWAY!"

Noda paid no heed to Hideki's words. Not that it his words mattered to him, but Noda was adamant that he had to track down that blonde stranger. He knew something was off about him; that he wasn't just 'any' person. A normal person wouldn't have been able to hold his halberd and made it practically immovable just by grabbing it. Hell, even if he didn't want to admit it aloud, Noda had trouble moving his halberd back then. And from the way that the whisker-marked (yeah, he thought that they were strange), strangely-dressed teen moved when he broke through the window, it just proved that the blonde wasn't your everyday kind of guy.

Whoever he was, if what Yuri suspect turned out to be true—that the blonde was Angel's acquaintance—then Noda had to take him out immediately.

Meanwhile, Naruto was still running; his eyes darting back and forth to find a suitable place for a fight. He didn't want to take hostile actions such as fighting that guy from before, but he wasn't going to be an idiot either. Out of fear of bringing innocent people into his fight with that halberd-wielding guy, he chose not to seek place to hide. A part of him had a hunch that he would just be found out if he did. He stopped, scanning his surroundings for any place wide enough for him to fight. He found none, and cursed aloud.

"Damn it! Isn't there any place open enough for a fight?!" he exclaimed in frustration, "That guy is hot on my trail, and if I don't find a place soon he'll fight me regardless of where we are!" Panicked blue eyes went back and forth in desperate search of some place empty of people.

A field came to his line of sight. It was wide enough, wider than he'd actually planned to find. The weird white linings on the grounds confused him—unsettled him, even—but he didn't have time to act on that confusion. All he knew was that he found what he needed, and he better be quick to get there. Otherwise, that halberd-wielding brute would start a fight then and there. Leaping towards and over several small trees (they were smaller than the big ones back in Konoha), he proceeded to make huge leaps and bounds towards that open field.

Once again, Naruto skidded into a halt as he reached the field. Once again, his sandals bit into the ground to slow his advance. His eyes scanned his surroundings, letting him familiarize himself with the area. It was then that he noticed that the field was perhaps too open, too vacant for a battle. _'Okay, I admit the lack of innocent bystanders is reassuring, but…there's no place for drastic maneuvers! Heck, I don't even see anything I could use for a Kawarimi no Jutsu _(Substitution Jutsu)_!'_

"HAH! Found you!"

Naruto cursed for the umpteenth time that day, "Damn it." That purple-haired guy was faster than he thought. Naruto hadn't even passed a full minute of being there! Was that guy really on his heels the entire time?

Despite his current confusion, Naruto focused himself at the closing figure that was his opponent. He couldn't afford being caught off-guard by someone who had that kind of weapon in his hands. Though the worst that could happen was Naruto sustaining substantial damage, it wasn't really that preferable either. He had to be prepared for anything.

Noda jumped from his higher perch, bounding over the many staircases with exactly three leaps before landing in a crouch. His halberd's blade glistened under the sun's light, looking as if bearing its metallic fangs in preparation for battle. Its owner had a smirk carved on his face, "What, finished running around?"

"If that's how you see it…" Naruto answered, his sapphire eyes held Noda's gaze unwaveringly, "Honestly, I just don't want to fight against a barbarian who might hurt innocent bystanders."

A tick of a nerve appeared on Noda's temple as he grounded his teeth in anger. However, not being one to lose in a badmouthing contest, he shot a remark back at the blonde, "HAH! The way I see it, you're just afraid of being seen LOSING in front of everybody!"

"You can see it the way you like to. It doesn't change the fact that you won't be able to hurt anyone while we're here." Naruto stated. Noda had a large grin on his face as he twirled his halberd around in the air; though appearing to be showboating, it was actually his way to prepare to enter his battle stance. He cackled before yelling aloud, "If there's anyone getting hurt right now, it's gonna be YOU!"

Even though Naruto was intimidated by the sight of the evil-looking halberd, his focus didn't waver. Instead, he dropped into his own battle stance; left leg bent on his front, right leg behind it, and his muscles tensing ready to give him the needed burst of speed at the first command. His right hand dropped to his side, trailing down his leg in search of something that he hoped he still had. Then, his right hand felt something like a pocket strapped on his right thigh by a bandage that went around it. He smiled, _'Gotcha.'_ His fingers quickly pulled the lid open and dived into the pocket, fingering its way until he pulled it out again to reveal a knife.

However, it wasn't just **any** knife. The weapon he pulled out was a short, double-edged blade with a pointed tip; the blade part looked like something fit for a spearhead. That black blade was attached to its hilt, bound for countless times by a white bandage that completely covered the hilt save for the ring-like protrusion on the end of the hilt that his fingers were pulling it out with.  
Rather than an ordinary knife, the weapon Naruto had pulled out was a _kunai_.

(Activate soundtrack: _Toshiro Masuda – Keisei Gyakuten (Battle Theme)_)

"I'll make sure you don't kill anyone." Naruto muttered quietly, barely hearable by anyone else but him.

With a show of skill, Naruto twirled the kunai on his fingers before he gripped it in a reverse grip. A frown was set on his face, making him look almost unsure about what he was about to do. Truth to be told, he actually **was**. As much as possible, he would prefer not to fight against anyone in this new world. He'd given up fighting in his last one; there was no reason to start again when all he was looking for is a fresh start.

Noda noticed the kunai Naruto held out. He looked at it funnily, before he let out a taunting laughter. "Hah! What can you do with a small knife like that?" He asked loudly, "You don't really think something like that will be enough to fight me, do you?"

"Let me make myself clear to you." Naruto said clearly, intending to let his words reach out to his opponent, "I don't wanna fight you."

The context which Naruto was talking about was the word 'fight'. He certainly did NOT want to fight; not when he had just arrived in whatever world this was. Fighting someone was the last thing on his mind, and it was partly because he didn't want to hurt anybody. However, Noda—who unfortunately was an idiot—who became Naruto's opponent was more interested in the subjective part of the blonde's statement. "So you ADMIT that you don't want to fight me? Is that cowardice I'm sensing?"

That did it.

One thing you just DON'T do to Naruto was to belittle him, talk down to him as if he was inferior to you. Countless people tried that, and those people…well, they didn't know what they had coming.

Naruto's eyes narrowed. A familiar heat arose around his abdomen, which travelled around his body in an unexpected burst. Contrary to that internal heat, his sapphire eyes glared icily at Noda, making him flinch under the strong gaze. "I'm not afraid of you!" Naruto exclaimed suddenly, "If it's a fight you want, then I'll kick your ass a thousand times in three minutes!"

Noda appeared to have gotten around Naruto's glare. After a moment of adjusting himself with the rise of an unknown pressure around his person, Noda shot another taunt at Naruto with the intent of riling him up more, "What's that? Kick my ass? With that little knife!? That thing isn't even sharp enough to shave your own pubic hair!"

It was for but a short moment. No, it was more likely to happen in an instant. In that instant, Naruto's irritation spiked, hitting the roofs of his limit. In that instant, the wind around them seemed to pick up, blowing with such harshness that dusts flew around. And within that seconds of silence, an animalistic growl escaped Naruto's throat. His once cold eyes flared with burning rage. "This 'little knife', as you call it," the blonde's grip on the kunai tightened considerably, "is more than enough!"

"Oh yeah?" Noda asked aloud before lunging forward, "Then prove it!"

In response, Naruto dash forward to meet his opponent's headfirst charge. His kunai was held ready in front of his face, still in its reverse grip. He saw Noda's wide swing arc coming from a mile away, so he blocked the bladed spearhead with relative ease, mocking Noda's statement of it being a little knife. Both fighters were saber-locked, equal strength being forced out to stand on even grounds. Obviously, Noda didn't expect his attack to be blocked, nor did he expect that the kunai would be sturdy enough to not buckle under his larger halberd.

To be honest, he was shocked.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" Naruto taunted, a smirk on his face, "Or is my 'little knife' too much for you to handle?"

Noda struggled to give a retort, but he was too busy adding some strength into his halberd just to hold his ground. He was baffled by the strength behind that small black knife. Seriously, a knife that size could block a strike from his halberd?! This was downright impossible! Even the idea itself was outright baffling!

Given the circumstances of the current situation, anyone would've shivered in fear. Noda, however, only let a grin spread on his face once more, and let loose an excited chuckle. "Keh...you're stronger than I originally thought. Not that strong, but you're no pushover." The metallic screech of their respective blades tore through the air as their equal force met again in a forward push, "I guess you can tell me your name before I cut you in two."

Naruto gave an arrogant smirk, his eyes glistening with glee, "Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto. And I guess you can tell me yours before I jam your hands up your ass."

"HAA!? You think you're really stronger than me?! Keep dreaming! The only time I'll tell you my name is when you're down on the ground in pieces!" Noda yelled aloud, a vein popping on his temples. With a great heave, the purple-haired teen forced the shorter blonde away by pushing his halberd even further. "You're a thousand years too early to even THINK that you can defeat this great Noda-sama!"

"I don't know about that," Naruto grunted carelessly, "but I won't lose to an idiot who deliberately gave his own name when he clearly said he wouldn't. Changed your mind, perhaps?"

"SHUT UP!" Noda roared. Once again, he dashed forward to attack, jumping high when he was five feet away from Naruto. His halberd was held high above his head; a tell-tale sign that he was going to slam it hard on the ground. Naruto almost scoffed (like a bastard Uchiha) when he saw this. _'This guy's attack pattern is so obvious my orange jumpsuit looks stealthy…'_ He mentally muttered. He was just telling the truth! It didn't need a _Sharingan_ to see through the idiot's attacks. They were so obvious it actually hurt him to notice them so quickly.

But just because Naruto could see through it, that didn't mean he could underestimate it. Just as the attack was obvious to his eyes, so was the sheer muscle strength Noda was gathering for his imminent attack. Even Naruto knew that if he just stood there like an idiot, he was liable to lose his head.

"I'm through with you!" Noda cried out as his arm brought down his halberd down in a mighty vertical swing, "Helm Breaker (1)!"

As his eyes concentrated on the bladed tip of his opponent's halberd, Naruto had to fight the urge to sweat-drop. _'Helm Breaker? But…'_ His theory was right that when he figured out that the sheer power behind the attack being tremendous—he could practically hear the air screaming as the halberd grazed it. He was also right, however, in the case of it being easily seen through. And of course, the technique's name bore its own weakness. _'I'm not wearing a helmet.'_

To respond to the attack, Naruto fished out another kunai with amazing dexterity. He switched them both into a normal grip before crossing his arms in front of him. Noda's halberd was about to crack his head open when Naruto slashed both his kunai to the offending blade in an X-shaped slash. They three blades crashed, resulting in a loud clanging sound that reverberated throughout the whole area. The clash of the two attacks left both fighters in a state of shock.

In Noda's case, the fact that Naruto was able to block his attack for the **second** time was illogical. Considering the fact that it was one of his strong techniques, he should've at least been able to hurt the enigmatic blonde. But no, instead of getting a slash wound, the blonde actually slashed BACK! This was already over his understanding, and it pissed him off eternally.

Naruto…well, he knew that the attack wasn't something he'd sneeze at. Years of rigorous training taught him the basics of countless attack stances; the attack his purple-haired opponent used, and the momentum he gathered, all told him that it was a heavy downward attack. Coupled with that spear/halberd of his, Naruto had already expected for himself to be affected in some kind of way—flinch, a step back, whatever. Imagine his surprise when, rather than being simply pushed back, Noda's attack successfully broke both of his kunai in two. The black blades…they were literally cracked and broken; with the parts broken off flying away after the clash, twirling in the air.

'_The…hell?'_ Naruto thought, shock still overriding his body, _'He broke my kunai!'_

'_What the hell's with this punk?!'_ Noda thought with disbelief reigning in his mind, _'With those small knives, he…!'_

Naruto quickly disposed his broken weapons, tossing them aside as they lost their uses. He reached out for the utility pouch behind him, aiming to take another pair of kunai. He cursed under his breath, "Damn, this turns out to be harder than I thought…"

He didn't know how right he was.

(Deactivate soundtrack)

* * *

It was said that females had something called a woman's intuition. A heightened sixth-sense, if you would, that gave them the thought that something bad was going to happen (also known as the 'Obi-Wan I-have-a-bad-feeling-about-this' syndrome). While it was a far cry from an Uchiha's _Sharingan_, and not that much of a prophecy compared to priestess Shion's vision of the future, it had its perks as well.

And now, the girls present in the Afterworld Battlefront's HQ (Yuri and Shiina) had that tingle on the back of their necks that was their women's intuition acting up. Shiina didn't show any reaction to it other than the slight rise of her head and the small choked gasp she let out. Her red eyes darted towards the room's windows, sensing something that was completely out of place. Yuri acted immediately on the first warning sign that her mind received; standing up from her seat before peering through the very same window that Shiina glanced at. As a battlefront leader, she wasn't one to distrust her instincts.

And this time, like many other times before, her instincts were proven correct.

"What in the world…?" Yuri gasped out, the sight shown to her being too unbelievable for her.

"What's the matter, Yuri?" Otonashi called out; rising from the sofa he was sitting on. His leader sounded distraught, which was very much unlike her. When Yuri didn't answer him—instead, continued to look through the window with wide eyes—he walked over towards her to see for himself. Not a minute later, his eyes almost fell off their sockets.

"This is…bad." Otonashi muttered.

"You don't say?" Yuri exclaimed sarcastically.

There, over at the baseball field viewable through the window, was Noda swinging his halberd like a man possessed at their previously unconscious blonde enigma. Their movements were so wild, so extreme, that the air around them began to pick up dusts as Noda's halberd spun around in effort of the quick blonde. None of them hit home, though; the blonde was on speeds faster than that of Noda's swings.

"Why is that idiot fighting him?!" Yuri asked aloud to no one in particular. Growling in annoyance, she turned to her comrades with a stern look on her face, "Damn it all…listen up! We're gonna go down there and stop their fight! Bring all the equipment you can, because we're going to need it!"

"All right, now we're talking! I'm just itching for a fight, and now is a good time as any!" Fujimaki exclaimed, waving his _shirasaya_ in the air excitedly. Ooyama laughed nervously behind him while sweating profusely, saying, "Fujimaki-san, I think it's better if we don't fight at all…"

"Should I call Iwasawa-san and the others as well?" Takamatsu asked Yuri, propping his glasses up once more out of habit. Yuri shook her head negative, "They're probably doing their band rehearsal right now, so it'll just waste our time. We'll go with all the members present here for now." She answered. Her eyes suddenly darted around in search of something before she practically yelled out to the others, "And where the hell is Shiina-san?"

Everyone's attention was immediately drawn to the wall where Shiina usually leaned on, near the cupboard that held several of the principal's stuffs. That spot was vacant. At this, Fujimaki laughed, "Well, I guess I'm not the only one getting eager."

That wasn't entirely wrong, though it wasn't the complete truth either. Yes, Shiina had gone in advance, but it was only because she was supposed to be a ninja; upholding the 'one step ahead' rule.

* * *

'_No matter how hard I try,'_ Noda thought furiously, _'no matter how hard I hit him,'_ he brought down another slash to the speedy blonde in front of him, only for him step to the side while using the edges of his kunai to redirect his halberd, _'this kid just won't buckle!'_

Naruto's movements were simple. His opponent's weapon is large enough for him to keep track of it, so he could easily weave in and out of its range, attacking and dodging Noda's attacks. What kept him out of harm's way wasn't the complexity of his movements, but it was simply the speed he carried himself with. Of course, compared to his Bijuu mode, it was a far cry. However, his normal speed was already above normal, non-ninja people. This also brought himself to believe that his purple-haired adversary wasn't a ninja, despite the choice of weapon he had.

However, as he had to once again redirect Noda's downward swing with his kunai, he had to admit that his strength was phenomenal for a non-ninja fellow. The force he put in each of his swings were stupidly strong that Naruto had to remain on his feet lest he would've been cut up in half.

'_This is getting nowhere.'_ Naruto thought, gritting his teeth in frustration, _'I can't defeat him without badly wounding him, and I'm not sure if I can hold him in a prolonged fight.'_ Naruto had formerly thought that if couldn't temporarily incapacitate his enemy from fighting, he should tire him out. His legendary stamina should be able to keep him standing for that purpose. But, in that regard, he didn't know about his opponent's stamina. Who knows what would happen if the both of them duke it out for the whole day; assuming that the halberd-wielder's stamina can keep him fighting for that long.

Before he could plan any further, Naruto had to duck from a suddenly extending halberd. "Holy-!" the blonde dropped on his back to avoid the offending blade. On closer look, the halberd didn't exactly extend at all. Noda had trusted it towards him while holding the bladeless end of the shaft.

Seeing the blonde's fetal position, Noda smirked and delivered a kick with his left foot, impacting with…the place all men held precious of. In any case, Naruto let out a soundless scream at the feeling of a sudden impact against his balls. When his throat finally let up enough for him to scream, it was hoarse and unpleasant, "MOTHERFUCKING PIECE OF CRAP-EATING SHIIIIT!"

"Huh…I didn't know cursing could sound so badass." Noda said offhandedly as he removed his feet from where he previously struck. He clicked his tongue in annoyance; he didn't like doing low blows (excuse the unpleasant grammar pun), but when the opportunity presented itself, Noda didn't have time to think it through. He was already hanging on a ledge fighting against this stupidly strong blonde that he had to fight dirty.

"B-Bastawd…th-dat friggin' hurts!" Naruto breathed out, still rolling on the ground holding his family jewels.

"Keh! Don't blame me for taking the shot when I could!" Noda replied aloofly. He picked up his halberd, once again shouldering it before turning around and walked away. "In any case, just stay there while I call Yurippe and the others. I'll still cut you into pieces, but I'll see what Yurippe had in plan." He thought that their fight was finished, with the blonde rolling on the ground in absolute pain while he walked away not-exactly-unscathed.

He didn't know about one thing, though. Noda didn't know what, or who, he was up against.

That was why when he heard a sudden shuffling sound and turned back around, surprise jerked all over his body when electricity streamed from his lower regions. To be precise, his…manly weak spot. In fact, he was so surprised he lost his grip on his halberd and let it clatter on the ground.

Yes, he didn't know about Naruto, who spent three years chasing a vengeful Uchiha around to try and bring him back. Chasing an avenger like that ought to make Naruto familiar with the case of vengeance, while having his parent-figure die on him gave him a taste of sweet vengeance being prepared. When his balls were assaulted, vengeance should be his in a matter of seconds. And for that, Naruto had counter-kicked Noda in the balls as an act of sweet, sweet revenge.

Ah…done like a true Uchiha. Madara should be proud.

Noda felt the air in his lungs disappear as did his voice, resulting in him screaming out soundless nonsense like Naruto did beforehand. The pain was beyond his description…no, it was beyond his imagination! As a matter of fact, it felt like he had just lost the ability to stand upright and thus crumpled on the ground. Unlike Naruto, whose vocal chords were working faster than the healing of his testicles, Noda didn't have that kind of healing factor on **any** part of his body; so he didn't put up a lengthy line of curses like the blonde did.

His mind was screaming bloody murder, however, and it was best to leave him with his thoughts for now.

Cackling like a madman, Naruto stood up (as much as he could with the throbbing pain in his lower regions) with his hands cupped around his manhood as if he could heal it faster that way. "HAHA! Revenge is a bitch, isn't it?! That's for kicking me in the nuts, bastard!"

"Why…you...!" Noda growled, slowly picking himself up from the ground. "I'll make you pay for this!"

The intensity of the hateful glare that both of them were sending to each other was hysterical. You could practically see the stream of electrons, resulting in electricity coursing between their eye contact. Be that as it may, though, there wasn't much the two of them could do to each other except for glaring and holding their respective balls in pain while standing on shaking knees.

What do you expect? Having your greatest weak spot kicked unceremoniously would always result in temporary paralysis.

Something inside Naruto just screamed at him with the urge to _Rasengan_ his opponent's ass and be done with it. He was positive that it wasn't Kurama's talking, so perhaps his dark side was acting up again?

'_Though, I have to admit, a Rasengan would really come in handy.'_ Naruto thought sullenly, _'Problem is, that'll probably too destructive to use on this guy. I don't know if he's super-powered or anything, but I won't take any chances of getting him killed.'_ As Naruto looked down to his abdomen, picturing the image of his Jinchûriki seal in his mind, another thought permeated through his steady train of thought, _'Moreover, I don't know how to draw out that strange energy that Kurama talked about. It's supposed to be there, or at least he said so. But I really can't feel any of that strange energy. All I feel is myself. It's as if nothing had changed in my body…'_

"Oi…you finished daydreaming, punk?!" Noda's voice struck like an arrow, pulling Naruto out of his thoughts. Noda didn't wait for a reply; he quickly took his halberd and raised it above his head, once more getting ready to fight, "Because it's high time I pound some senses into you!"

Naruto stared at the purple-haired teen. He snickered lightly, pulling out yet another kunai with his right hand. "Don't count me out just yet!" Naruto yelled out with a slight smirk of enthusiasm, "I still owe you a good beating, bastard!"

Before the two of them could advance, something struck the ground beneath them. Noticing the sudden attack, both fighters jumped away from each other. Naruto caught sight of what actually struck them just now, and to his curious surprise it was…a shuriken?

'_That__'s not__ mine…'_ Naruto thought. _'But then, who…OH SHI—!'_

Naruto had to cut off his thoughts when he saw a flurry of shuriken flying towards him, each with precision that caught him off-guard for a bit. He had to struggle as he blocked each and every of them with the single kunai in his right hand; black sleeves becoming nothing more than a blur as he moved it quickly. _'What the hell…? Is there another ninja here?'_

That was when he saw it. As he followed the trail which the shuriken barrage was coming from, he saw a teenage girl with dark indigo hair and equally dark scarf running towards him. The speed in which she threw her kunai knives was flabbergasting! It was as if she had endless supply of kunai under her sleeves. Naruto growled, confirming his thoughts of the presence of another ninja. He let out a sigh of relief when the relentless rain of shuriken ended eventually.

He kept an eye at the girl. She was wearing clothes in an adjacent manner as the people he had met so far. Only, in her case, it consisted of some sort of sailor uniform, the scarf that was aforementioned, black arm guards that reminded him of the ones Sasuke used to wear covered her arms—though Naruto failed to see any armor in it—and a short skirt that was cut in slits on some angles. Probably for the sake of maneuverability, Naruto surmised as reached back for another kunai.

He was running low on equipments. The earlier clash with that halberd broke two kunai knives, and he dropped another pair after getting kicked in the balls after that. He felt his way around his utility pouch, _'One, two…three more kunai, 6 shuriken and a smoke bomb.'_ He gritted his teeth, _'Damn!'_

Noda, who had gained his balance after jumping back so suddenly, stood still in shock as he saw who had intervened in his fight. He gulped, a bead of sweat trailed down his forehead. Of all people that were supposed to come, he didn't expect this one to show up so early. Sure, this girl—Shiina, he reminded himself—was on his side. But before that, she was one hell of a scary person. And there was a reason for that.

In a way, she was stronger than him.

"What has happened here?" Shiina asked with her back to her ally, "He was supposed to be asleep in the infirmary."

"Can't you tell? He woke up. Then he ran away, so I had to chase him down." Noda answered, surprised by the usually-silent Shiina's impromptu question. Shiina nodded silently, now focusing on the blonde. She eyed the weapon he was carrying carefully, noticing the familiarity of it that made her widen her eyes for the smallest fraction. "That's…a kunai." She muttered cautiously. The sight of such a weapon made her think of the obvious, which she dreaded to even think of. "Is he…a shinobi?"

"Shinobi?" Noda let out. He frowned, "Oi, oi, don't tell me that he's someone you know from your past."

Shiina shook her head, "Hardly." She said curtly. Her confusion still remained all the same, though. What was a shinobi doing here?

Setting her confusion aside, she focused at the task at hand. Yuri had said it before; the blonde could not escape from them in fear of regrouping with Angel. Whoever or whatever the blonde might turn out to be, Shiina decided to drop it and pulled out her twin kodachi. She would have to fight him to figure out.

Her sharp ears picked up the sound of fast-approaching footsteps, which she noticed eventually—as the mass of blue hair came up—was Hideki running towards them from the higher grounds. He ran from the infirmary, it seemed, and the sweat he accumulated nearly made him glisten as much as the handgun in his hands. "Oooii! Wait up!" he called out loudly.

"Keh…how long was that idiot planning to take to get here, anyway?" Noda muttered lowly.

Unknown to any of the SSS members, the reason why Hideki took so long was because he had lost sight of Noda and Naruto, and proceeded to search in all of the wrong places. It was actually a pure miracle that he arrived when he did.

The sight of another one popping out made cold sweat run down Naruto's cheek. He clicked his tongue distastefully. The situation was bad for him. He had forgotten about how many allies that the purple-haired guy might have. With reinforcements coming up soon, his time was running out. _'Damn it all…!'_ Naruto thought desperately. Even though it was only by two people, he was already outnumbered. Not to mention that these two people in front of him were obviously stronger than normal people, and that third person (who he deliberately saved before) seemed to be on their side now that he noticed the way he was dressed.

He would need something to even things out.

'… _I got no other choice.'_ Naruto stood straight, relaxing his stance as he exhaled a long breath. _'I don't know if it'll work, but judging by what Kurama said…that "mystery energy" should be at my beck and call. Time to see if his theory is right.'_ Hesitantly, he brought his two hands upwards in front of his chest. Curling his fingers, he left the index and middle fingers of both hands standing before bringing both of them up in a familiar finger-cross hand seal. The move made his three opponents tense up in confusion of what he was doing. The confusion, however, dissolved into outright shock in the next words he yelled out.

"_Kagebunshin no Jutsu!_"

And shock exploded into cautious fear at the sight of a dozen doppelgangers appearing in a flicker of bright light, all around the blonde in a random formation. Shiina did not…no, could not comprehend what just happened right before her eyes. One moment, the strange blonde looked like he had been successfully cornered, and she thought that all she needed to do was to knock him out.

Now she didn't know which one she was supposed to knock out.

Noda had seen things like this happening in online RPG games, and all he could surmise was that this blonde that he was supposed to look after was…a mage. _'That's impossible.'_ He thought, _'Those kinds of guys only exist in games!'_

"O-Oi..." Hideki gaped. Rendered speechless, he said the only thing that came to his mind, "I don't remember seeing this many when we're in the infirmary."

The confusion wasn't one-sided, either. Naruto, even though he was the one who casted the jutsu, was both surprised and confused when his clones materialized as they did. He had grown so accustomed by the usual puff of smoke that it caught him completely off-guard when they came in a flicker of light. It was like that occurrence in his Genin days when he accidentally confused a flash bomb with a smoke bomb and threw it to his feet.

Nevertheless, he felt a bit relieved to see that he could actually use jutsu. He was already worried when Kurama told him that he had no chakra since he was already dead. The mysterious energy that he had awakened seemed to be a good compensation for chakra; the slight side-effects that affected the jutsu were trivial, at best. Naruto also noticed another thing when he called upon the energy. The energy, whatever it actually was, was already so in-tune with his body and chakra coils that he didn't feel anything different when he used it. Using it felt no different than using his usual chakra.

Maybe that was the reason why he couldn't feel it. It was because his body already adapted to it that he didn't feel any strange power.

"…well, that came out a little differently." Naruto muttered to himself. A joyous grin formed on his face not a moment later, "But it's pretty cool! It's WAY cooler than the usual shadow clones!"

Even though he was busy marveling over his new shadow clones, the three SSS members didn't make any move to attack him. Hell, they were confused enough as it was, seeing someone conjuring not one, but a dozen clones with a simple hand gesture—they still thought that it was strange though, the hand gesture. Thanks to this, Naruto had more than enough time to showboat around in his usual exuberance and all the clones galore.

"HAHA! Sorry to keep you waiting! This time, I'll go all the way out!" he yelled aloud, pointing a finger aggressively at his three opponents, "I'll beat you all down with one jutsu, straight from my ninja handbook!"

The mere idea of it was enough to make Shiina's skin crawl, so imagine what it did to the remainder two males behind her.

Fortunately for them, the other members of the Afterworld Battlefront arrived just in the nick of time, guns in their hands and a fierce look in their eyes.

"Hold it right there!" Yuri shouted out, taking point beside Shiina with her Berreta held steadfast in front of her. Following her lead, all of the people she brought along converged on her formation with their respective weapons pointed at Naruto and his clones. Ooyama even brought along his trusty sniper rifle—a M24 SWS variant of the Remmington 700 rifle—for this occasion, though Yuri was the one who forced him to bring it despite his protests.

Even so, Ooyama had clamped up when Matsushita brought along a freaking rocket launcher **willingly**, despite it being overrated.

Seeing all the offending weapons pointed at him made Naruto flinch. He didn't recognize those weapons, but they bore eerily similar appearance to that of the Sky Country's kunai launcher. Whether or not those weapons would launch kunai was a mystery to him, but he didn't intend to find out. "They're all popping up like a bunch of seaweeds!" he muttered to himself.

Just what was wrong with the people here? Normally, there shouldn't be so many people wandering about with those kinds of weapons in hand!

And all of them seemed hell-bent on pursuing him, for reasons unknown. Naruto couldn't believe that he had already drawn this much attention to himself, despite being only recently transported to this world. Why were they after him? And why so serious about it?

"There's only one way to find out." Naruto said to himself, punching an open left palm to strengthen his fighting resolve.

Meanwhile, the mind of one Otonashi was running rampant at the scene before him. Needless to say, he could **not** believe that all of this was happening. _'Well, this is pretty unusual…MY ASS IT IS! This is __**very**__ unnerving!'_ he thought with an annoyed look on his face. He inwardly sighed to calm himself and his raging thoughts, _'Okay, calm down, and let's look back at what happened until this point. A strange kid popped up in the middle of our battle with Angel, and seemed to be on her side. Strange kid then proceeds to unleash inhuman power to stop cannon from hitting Angel before passing out. After we brought him in, he escaped and fought three of our members on equal grounds. Moreover, strange kid then made clones of himself out of thin air.'_

Forced with a new logic beyond normal human understanding, Otonashi gave up on thinking about it altogether.

"Just what…is happening to this world?"

* * *

_Frederica's realm…_

On a higher plane of existence, in a realm where all the incident happening in countless worlds were observed, Frederica silently watched.

She had bore witness to all of the things happening in the world she sent Naruto to, and she was somewhat interested that his mere presence there had made such a substantial change in that world. At first, she had smiled when Naruto—despite his obvious injuries—helped the individual known to the parallel world as "Angel", and apparently saved from a cannon fire. She expected something like that, of course, but for him to instantly jump in to save someone—despite the lack of chakra in his system—just minutes after his arrival was admirable.

But then, he shocked her by drawing out a power alien to his own. It represented a light so bright, it rivaled the brightness of his own will of fire. Oh no, that wasn't the essence of his will of fire that he'd drawn out. It was something else entirely. She knew what it was, but she found herself doubting the possibility of such power in his hands. She checked, re-checked, and made a third time attempt to see if she was wrong.

But she found no such thing.

"There's no doubt about it." Her hand lashed out to her side, calling for an Orb of Time to come. One came not a moment later; pulsating white light glowed as it hovered towards her. Her eyes shone with something akin to curious interest and subdued confusion. "That power is _Reiryoku_…a spiritual power unique to the world, universal code: Bleach." She was saying it as if her voice could reach Naruto, to answer his curiosity. Alas, it couldn't, and she was the only one who heard what she said.

"How could Naruto use it so easily?" she wondered aloud, "Scratch that, how come _Reiryoku_ even exists in this world?"

She didn't open any dimensional portal between Bleach and Angel Beats. Therefore, a transfer of any kind of matter between the two worlds shouldn't be possible. If so, then how come this happened at all?

"Don't tell me…" Frederica started with dread, "His very existence caused a miniscule rift between the two worlds?"

At first, she looked on with a sense of dread and confusion, eyes wide with bewilderment. Moments later, those tense features dissolved into a more relaxed one and she let loose a mirthful chuckle, "Kuhu…hmph. You really are a wild card. To think that you would bring about such a change to this world and brought along such power…"

She smiled, "You're really an interesting story to read on, Uzumaki Naruto."

**-End of Chapter 1-**

**-xo-**

At long last…I managed to update like a BOSS! In fact, I've updated this along with posting the new Naruto-Spiderman crossover! EEEPIIIC!

Extra Note: Re-uploaded in February 13th 2013 to add trivia and next chapter's teaser :D Also, to replace bad grammars. Bad grammars replacement will be gradual, but the time depends on when I would realize the errors.

Trivia Time!

-Noda's attack, the Helm Breaker, is taken from Devil May Cry's videogame attack technique. It is Dante's attack while utilizing Rebellion as his weapon. For fans that play the game, do forgive the copyright-less use.

-Naruto's appearance in the story may or may not trigger some of Otonashi's memories to resurface. His first arrival (and loss of consciousness) already triggered his doctor instincts. Oops…spoiler for those who didn't watch the series.

-_Reiryoku_ (spiritual power), while indeed is from the Bleach universe, will be used in the story quite frequently. Naruto will use it in replacement for his chakra, though his jutsu will be slightly different than what it used to be. However, Naruto will not be able to use _Reiatsu_ (spiritual pressure).

-The reason why I included _Reiryoku_ in this story is because it's the suitable power replacement for Naruto's non-existent chakra. Naruto is in spirit/soul form, so he has no chakra in his body. Now, when dead people can't use chakra (an amalgam of spiritual and physical energy), dead people can still use a part of their latent energy. That part is their spiritual energy; thus, _Reiryoku_.  
Rest assured, Naruto won't be spewing off countless Getsuga Tenshou with ease.

-Next Chapter-

"Are you Angel's ally?"

"Who **were** those people, anyway?"

"You're late, Uzumaki-san."

"Y-You guys…"

"I see you like that guitar…"

"So…mind telling me what this world exactly is?"


	3. Chapter 2: A Cease of Fire

/AN/: For people who like Angel Beats! crossovers, I suggest this one particular story that's unbelievably good.

The Second Angel: Okazaki Chapter by Benien Kurono Sora

It's a Clannad-Angel Beats crossover; a very well-written one at that. I just started reading it several days back when I was getting bored with the monotone Naruto fanfics and crossovers. And damn, does this guy/girl writes a story! He/She practically linked the two series together using Okazaki Tomoya's (Clannad's main protagonist) cause as a reason for him to get stuck in the Afterlife! Though, I have to admit, you'll have to watch Clannad first if you want to read it, it is still undoubtedly a well-written story.

Now, after saying all that, it's DISCLAIMER TIIIIIME! Who's on the hit list this time, I wonder…? (reads list) AHA! For once, it's someone good! Now, Neji! I chooooose you!

Neji: (comes in through the door) Oh, the entrance door is this way, huh?

Me: GAH! Neji, you're supposed to go in WITH the smoke bombs, not BEFORE it!

Neji: What smoke bombs?

*BOOOM* *POOF*

Me: Those ones…

Neji: Hmph…it's fated that I precede your special effects.

Me: Uh huh. Like it's fated that you died in the Naruto series? Still, I'm sorry for what happened, man. Kishimoto-sensei was probably high when he killed you off. Don't know what he smoked, but I better keep it away from him later on.

Neji: My canon death is fated.

Me: Oh, not that crap again! Anyway, you're up next for the disclaimer. So, if you please?

Neji: Yes. It is fated that I read this disclaimer.

**Disclaimer: SpinLord does not own me or characters from both the Naruto and Angel Beats franchises alike. It is not his fate to own such rights over us all.**

Me: Urgh, thanks Neji, you've officially made this AN emoistical.

Neji: You're welcome.

**-xo-**

**-Chapter 2-**

A Cease of Fire

Naruto stared down at his supposed enemies, grouping up like a bunch of hoodlums with multiple weapons targeted at him. With his shadow clones at his side, he was sure he could manage them easily, but…  
To stay on the safe side, he sent a mental command to his clones to pull out their kunai knives.

Still, does he really have to fight them? There was that kind of question in the blonde's mind. Sadly enough, the answer to that question was "yes, you do, retard", even though he didn't want to fight them. Except, of course, that halberd-wielding bastard who kicked him in the nuts.

'_It still stings even now…'_ Naruto thought, wincing as the pain came back to him slightly, _'What does he put inside his shoes, anyway?'_

At the other corner of the fighting grounds, the Afterlife Battlefront members were all staring at Naruto with disbelief written all over their faces. Specifically, they were actually staring at the clones he conjured, but considering the fact that they're practically the same guy it's not that far off the reality. At least they knew that he wasn't normal with this, which of course further concreted Yuri's suspicion.

Speaking of Yuri, the girl was currently pointing the edge of her gun at the orange-wearing blonde among the other orange-wearing blondes. The one standing in the center of their formation caught her attention. _'Standing among his clones to shield himself? Heh…I couldn't have planned it better than that.'_ She thought with a slight smirk. She quickly schooled her expression, replacing with a serious look.

"I don't know what's happening here, but I'll have to ask you to drop your weapons!" She said, before quickly adding as an afterthought, "All of you."

Naruto gave the purple-haired girl a weird look, "Drop **my** weapons? Drop yours first, then we can talk about mine!" he retorted. According to him, his reaction is justified. After all, these strange people had more people and weapons, so it's only fair! Whoever would want to argue, their arguments are invalid! Or so the child in him reacted to it.

Although…a few moments later, he was too preoccupied with observing the people that had gathered to think about it further. They were all wearing the same kind of clothes, so he surmised that those were uniforms. The girl that called out to him caught his attention first, of course; her tone and voice was painfully similar to a pink-haired friend of his. Her eyes were sea-foam green in color, which if coupled with her striking purple hair, stood out in the crowd.

The crowd itself looked a little awkward, if Naruto had anything to say about it. Scratch that; they looked so misplaced that even he could tell that they weren't supposed to be here at all. Standing behind the bandana-wearing girl with weapons drawn like that made him believe that they were her subordinates of some kind. How could he tell? Unlike the fearless, unwavering look that she had, some in that crowd looked nervous while some others looked a little **too** ready for a fight. It's as if **she** was the sole equalizer in this group.

Like the others (who he didn't bother to depict for too long), she had in her hands that strange angular weapon. It looked like a boomerang—with a bit of semblance to a banana—but the way she was holding it told him she wasn't planning to throw it.

Yuri was silent as she kept staring at him with cautious eyes. Using her tactically advanced mind, she began to note down her target's appearance; and more importantly, his weapon. She had considered him as an oddity from the very start she saw him, and she has a very good reason to do so. His clothing themselves weren't normal, since no average person would wear black and orange jumpsuit as his normal clothing. Not only that, but he looked like a delinquent with that possibly-dyed blonde hair (no normal person should have that shiny yellow hair color naturally!) and the three whisker-mark tattoo on both cheeks.

Personally, this only served to make Yuri believe that he is not an NPC.

Not to mention no NPC could spawn perfect replicas like that.

"…I asked you to drop your weapons because we don't have to fight each other. I think we're probably on the same side." Yuri explained, hoping to reason herself through the blonde's suspicion.

Naruto refused to be calmed down just like that. Even if they were on the same side, it didn't change the fact that they were the one who attacked first. "I couldn't care less about that! You guys attacked me first. I woke in the infirmary with two of you people acting as 'guards', and I'm smart enough to know that I was being guarded." His eyes narrowed at the SSS members, "That means you were holding me captive."

"No, it's nothing like that!" Hideki suddenly piped up, "We were just protecting in case Angel comes to get you!"

"Ha? Angel?" One of Naruto's clones let out in disbelief with squinted eyes, "There's something like that here? I thought angels only exist in heaven."

Another one suddenly exclaimed, "AH, I get it! This one is an angel-cosplayer!"

"No shit!"

Ignoring his clones' multiple reactions, Naruto looked at Hideki with a face that made him look like he had just swallowed something strange. He dismissed the expression and looked seriously at the blue-haired boy, "What are you getting at? What angel? Moreover, what does an angel want to do with someone like me?"

This time, it was the SSS members' turn to be confused. For his part, Otonashi looked baffled by the statement that the blonde gave. It was clear and obvious that this stranger didn't have a clue who Angel is. If that's the case, then Yuri's suspicion was right; this super-powered blonde was someone who died and was sent here just like the rest of them. Rationally, he wouldn't know who Angel actually is if they didn't tell him or if he didn't find out himself. That, however, left him wondering about another part of the puzzle.

'_If he really is someone who died and got stuck here just like the rest of us…'_ Otonashi thought, _'Why did he save Angel?'_

The thought made the reddish-haired teen frown in confusion. He noticed that his battlefront leader felt the same way, and probably thought the same thing, because she too made a reaction of her own. "You…don't know who Angel is?" She asked, "That can't be right, you just saved her several hours ago!"

"What?" The purple-haired girl's words instantly brought Naruto's train of thought back to that time in that huge cave. His memories of a silver-haired girl, a cannon and one overpowered Oodama Rasengan came back rushing like a broken dam. That girl was an angel? That was the worst load of bull he had ever heard. Sure, the girl was behaving strangely, but she looked too human to be an angel. Anyway… How did these guys even know about what happened? "H-How do you know about that?! There weren't any people around other than that girl and-!" His speech halted midway when a sudden realization came over him, "Wait...were you the ones who did that?"

"Technically, we **were** fighting against her, but the ones who fired the cannon were the Guild guys." Yuri said, shrugging her shoulders, "It was entirely our plan, though."

"You mean…that cannon…" Naruto started haltingly as more images from his memories resurfaced. He remembered how that one girl stood ahead of the giant red cannon, being targeted by its grand barrel. She looked vulnerable…and yet, these people…they'd fire a cannon at her?

"…so that's how it is." He muttered. His words confused Yuri even further, prompting her to quickly ask another question that might very well clear up all the doubts she had, "Then, let me ask you this…" she started, her piercing stare became so apparent that Naruto's shoulder tensed under her gaze, "Are you Angel's ally?"

The way she said it, the way that her tone sounded…like she was gauging his standing in this little battle of theirs, made Naruto glare at her. He didn't like it. As a matter of fact, while he thought that this bossy-looking girl was pretty, he didn't like **her**. Growling under his breath, he answered the question fiercely, "I'm **nobody's** ally! I don't care what kind of fight you have, or who you're fighting! All I came here for was to find away to pass on and start a new life, and I'm **through** fighting against anyone!"

The leader of the Afterlife Battlefront didn't expect that kind of answer, and neither did the rest of the Battlefront. _'So he's not Angel's ally… That's a relief. Then again, I should've expected that since he doesn't know about her.'_ Yuri thought, _'But…what's this about him that wants to just pass on? Is he another amnesiac like Otonashi-kun?'_ As she thought it, she cast Otonashi a curious glance, wondering if what she suspected is right.

Finally giving in to the confusion, she sighed and turned back to the mysterious whisker-marked blonde. "Look, I think we got off at the wrong foot here. I know you're confused just as much as I am, but we don't have to fight each other. This world might be confusing for you, but trust me, we can help you. We can be allies, even." She smirked when Naruto and his clones lowered their guard, knowing that was a sign of interest. She proceeded, "Therefore, do you want to join us? We can protect each other from Angel, who might I add is far more dangerous than you think."

Judging by the way she was talking, Naruto presumed that these people knew about this world. He himself was low on information; being sent to this world by the Saint of Time and Space herself without any basic knowledge other than it was supposed to be technologically advanced. The weapons that these people held proved that, but that is as far as it gets. He didn't even have the slightest idea of how the world actually works; though Frederica had told him that it worked like a stage of purgatory. At that time, this leader-girl's offer was tempting as she promised to help him get a better understanding of this world.

But when he was reminded that they were fighting against a single girl with weapons that could kill, the temptation was gone.

He exhaled and closed his eyes. With a cross-fingered hand seal, he dismissed his clones as they disappeared via minor bursts of bright light. At the dismissal of the clones, Yuri had to make a double take when she saw that the one she was pointing her gun at disappeared as the other clones did, leaving the real one standing at the front of the previous formation.

'_He actually stood in front of his clones?'_ Yuri thought, bewildered by the blonde's choice of action. _'This guy must be either stupid or daring enough to do it.'_ The possibility of him being both didn't escape her mind, though.

The blonde suddenly began chuckling, despite nothing funny happening at the current time. "I admit that this world had me thinking that it's a crazy place to be in. If there's somebody that can tell me about this world, then I'll ask them right away." He said light-heartedly. The slight smile he had on his face dissolved into a frown as he narrowed his eyes at the Battlefront's members, just moments after he seemed relaxed. "However, I don't have any intentions of joining a group of people who fire cannonballs at a girl you lightly refer to as an 'angel'."

Naruto reached back into his utility pouch and withdrew his last smoke bomb. "I'm not her ally, but I won't let you hurt her as long as I have anything to say about it." As he said this, Naruto threw the smoke bomb at his feet. White smoke exploded under him, spreading outwards and concealing his appearance. Shocked by the unexpected turn of events the Afterlife Battlefront all but scrambled into the smoke. So desperate were they in search of the fleeing blonde, they failed to notice a speeding flicker of a body that ran towards the school building.

"What the…where the hell did he go?!" One exasperated Noda yelled aloud.

Truthfully, no one actually saw that speeding black and orange blur. The blonde was just **that** fast, despite his looks. Having experienced the strangely-clothed blonde's speed firsthand, Noda had an idea of how fast he could move; an idea, of course, which was still far from the actual truth.

At loss of words and thought, Yuri could only stare at the spot that was left vacant by the runaway blonde. His words—his threats—were still ringing in her head as clear as clarinet. She couldn't believe that this boy that she and Otonashi saved was this adamant about protecting Angel. He looked to be so protective that the thought of fighting against him made her shudder.

And this was coming from the leader of the Afterlife Battlefront; the only group to rebel against God.

All because of some idiot who decided to help Angel without knowing who she is.

Yuri gritted her teeth in both frustration and anger. She suddenly had the urge to empty her ammunition in one of her subordinates' body (Hideki is preferred), but she calmed herself down with a drawn-out sigh.

"…darn it."

* * *

Naruto had just arrived at the school's lobby when he halted his shadow-blur; his sandaled feet skidded along the surprisingly smooth floor, creating a distinctive screeching noise as he slid on it. He looked around; blue eyes peering and searching for any presence in the vicinity. When he didn't find any, he didn't know whether to be relieved or disturbed. Opting to be positive about it, he chose the former.

"At least they're not chasing me. I'm tired of running around a place I don't even know about." He grumbled, puffing his cheeks up in a sulking manner. "Who **were** those people, anyway? I don't remember Rika-chan saying that I'd have to fight against people like that…" he trailed off. Actually, he didn't remember her telling him that he would have to fight anyone, for that matter. Whatever happened back there, it might be some kind of one-and-only glitch thing.

Strange world.

"…meh, people fight me all the time. I better get used to it, else I'd come here for nothing." Naruto said, shrugging his shoulders as if his statement was the answer to all of his problems. Once again, he looked around him intently. This time, he had this confused expression as if he had just noticed the vacancy of his surroundings. "Aren't there any other people around here? Someone who can talk civilly and not point guns at little girls?"

He looked in front of him, finding a wide staircase which looked like it was begging to be stepped on. Though that may be the case (as the purpose of stairs are to be stepped on), Naruto found the tempting aura odd enough for him to sweat-drop. "That's one big staircase…" he said to himself as he began ascending through it. On other occasions, he might find what he was doing as pure idiocy. What kind of ninja is he supposed to be if he uses stairs? Real ninjas walk on walls, for Kami-sama's sake! For this particular occasion, however, he couldn't find any other way around this…mysterious building (might it be pointed out that the only academic-related building Naruto has ever been to was his Ninja Academy, which wasn't really a school). It didn't look familiar, but the layout of the whole place is somewhat relatable to a hidden village like the ones his world used to have.

Therefore, the leader of the whole place **should** be at the highest floor.

*Pfft* who am I kidding? It's basic RPG logic for all kinds of non-logical circumstances.

Either way, Naruto found himself stepping at the end of the staircases—he seemed to have walked through a crisscrossing stairway leading upstairs—and, through some unbidden auto-pilot, was suddenly standing in a hallway. He looked around him. The hallway is kind of wide, with several doors lined up along the left side of the wall. They were closed, and Naruto wasn't exactly keen on investigating the rooms either. Walking pass those closed rooms to continue his search for some people, he was shocked when one door—coincidentally the one he was passing by—opened with a slide as a person appeared beyond it.

This person had thinning brown hair with equally brown mustache and a pair of circle spectacles, something that eerily reminded him of Kabuto. He wore on him a simple grass-green button-up shirt and a pair of brown trousers. This plain, unassuming man…had some kind of "teacher's aura" about him, making Naruto assume that he was one.

"Hm?" the droopy-eyed elder let out, appearing to be surprised by Naruto's presence. Now, Naruto was silent up until that moment; though frozen like a statue is another way to put it. He hadn't expected his stealth mode to be dropped so quickly, and by pure accident no less. Truth to be told, it made him as unmoving as Shikamaru's shadow bind could do to him.

"A-Aaah…" Naruto started. He was so nervous you could easily see sweat raining around his body. "Um, I, uh…I'm…looking for the bathroom?" He tried, hoping for some miracle that would enable him to leave without further scrutiny by this maybe-teacher. When the teacher showed none, Naruto began devising another plan that might have several downsides to it.

For one, he could Rasengan the guy with hopes that it'd knock him out, but the man looked so frail a simple punch might stop his heart.

A _Sennen Goroshi_ (Thousand Years of Death)-version of a kancho might also knock him out, but Naruto didn't want to be charged with a man's inability to shit for the rest of his life.

And yet, when he decided that a simple _Oiroke no Jutsu_ (Sexy Jutsu) would **definitely** knock this teacher out—all men are perverts, and that is true—the teacher finally exclaimed with a big smile, "Ara, ara…now I remember. You're that new transfer student that the principal spoke about."

"Transfer…student?" Naruto let out, dumbfounded. "Sir, I don't wanna be rude, but I think you got the wrong guy. I ain't transferring from anywhere!"

The man laughed, "Ohoho, what nonsense. Sure you are! There's no one else transferring in the current time, and that means it's only you."

"But I didn't! I don't know where I am right now, even. And if you think that I actually transferred to this…" Naruto's mouth tilted upwards in an upside-down V, trying to determine what this place is called. He failed to do so, of course, "…institute," Yeah, that sounded about right, "then you're probably wrong in the head."

"Aaah, the joy of youth. Able to spout nonsense freely without a care in the world." The man spoke like he already got everything right in his mind. Of course, it was a one-sided thought, as Naruto looked like he could very well give the older man a smack upside the head for his complete misunderstanding. He nearly did so, before the man continued while raising his right hand in front of him, "Regardless, you should come in now. Class is in session. And judging by the time you got here, it is safe to say…"

He gave a warm smile. His next words, however, made Naruto's blood run cold. "You're late, Uzumaki-san."

* * *

_Class 3-C_

He lost track of what happened next.

To be honest, he was too caught up by the fact that this old man knew his name—and he hadn't even told him about it—to actually apply what his ninja training had taught him: awareness of the surrounding area.

What Naruto could perceive, though, was that he ended up entering the room—which turns out to be a classroom—and stood at the front, bearing the curious stares of many of indistinguishable people (possibly students). When he came to, it was to the sound of the teacher that brought him into the class, urging him to introduce himself. After a quiet banter which involved him telling the teacher that he wasn't supposed to be here while the teacher said otherwise, Naruto begrudgingly complied.

"Ano…where should I start…?" Naruto muttered. Usually, he didn't act like this. Somehow it just made him wonder how his usual carelessness went off to. Cursing under his breath, he then pointed at himself with a thumb-jab to the chest, "Uzumaki Naruto. Don't bother to remember the name, 'cuz I'm not supposed to be here anyway."

Cue sweat-drop by the whole class, who thought that his statement defeated the purpose of his introduction. Why bother entering the class if that's the case, then? Yet, ironically, the blonde Jinchûriki found himself wondering about the same thing.

"Right, right, I guess that will do." The previous teacher nodded as if the introduction was satisfactory. "Now, class will end in a moment, but I suggest that you take a seat first to familiarize yourself with the class."

'_Spend a moment sitting in a class under the watchful eyes of its entire occupants? Sure, no biggie, I'll just have to-OH WHO AM I KIDDING?! This is both a gigantic waste of time and a pain in the ass!'_

"Now…" the teacher continued, blissfully unaware of Naruto's offensive thoughts, "There's an empty seat there beside Rock-san. Now, go and have a seat, Uzumaki-san."

If there is one thing that Naruto picked up from the teacher's tone and voice, it was that it sounded empty. No, it wasn't like the one that Ibiki-ojisan's interrogation victims used to have after a torture session. It sounded human, thankfully, but the lack of independent will behind it made the voice sound more…bland than usual.

Chucking it up to the stress of being a teacher, Naruto grunted and walked towards the empty seat; the seat itself was the second one in row next to the windows. Personally, he enjoyed the way that most of the students were risking their necks to keep staring at him, though the ones that the female population of the class sent to him were enough to make him quiver (not to mention those heart-shaped eyes made his mind scream "fangirls" at the first sight). Shaking all the attentions off, he then proceeded to sit himself on the chair behind the table.

Hmm…part metallic and part wooden with a plushy seat, the chair **is** somewhat comfortable.

"Ano…Uzumaki-san…correct?" the person next to him, the one whose seat was directly next to the windows, asked. Naruto didn't pay him that much of an attention since he was actually trying to doze off. He offhandedly responded, "Yeah, what do you want?" He knew he was being rude, but it was only due to lack of rest.

This guy…whoever he is, he was actually loud enough for Naruto to **not** doze off. Though, honestly, it was hard to fall asleep when that certain someone just outright stand up and yelled, "I'M VERY PLEASED TO MEET YOU! I HOPE THAT YOUR CONTINUAL PRESENCE IN THIS CLASS WILL KEEP OUR YOUTHFUL SPIRIT BURNING!"

Naruto winced; both because the volume of the sound this student greeted him with was outrageous and the way he spoke eerily reminded him of a friend in his dead, forgotten world that died earlier than him. _'Let's hope this is not how he usually greets someone…'_ he thought. His eardrums were still ringing due to the sudden noise that permeated it. Sighing loudly, the blonde then turned to face the loud person with an annoyed look on his face, "Look, pal, I appreciate the good-natured greeting, but I would prefer if you don't…yell…so…loudly…"

That…that face…! That…that ugly bowl-cut hair…and…those **eyebrows**!

It can't be…

"B-B-B-Bushy Brows!?"

You know, it takes a **very** steep fall from normal to abnormal to reduce Naruto's speech level to Hinata's. Him seeing Rock Lee in the flesh (well, not quite. They're practically in soul particles) classifies as a 'holy-shit' level in the 'WTF' section, so it was pretty much mind-blowing.

Lee looked perplexed for a moment. That is, of course, until he regained his usual exuberance and grinned at Naruto; albeit a little awkwardly. "Well, you can call me that as well. Almost half of the school does, anyway. But! I'm very glad that you've quickly overcame the family name boundaries and even called me by nickname! UWOOOH! This occasion is the true essence of the youth!"

Dead or alive, Lee's youth-_do_ seemed as eccentric as always. Good thing Naruto kept with the _nindo_, then.

"Hai, hai… Rock-san, if you would, please calm down while class is in session. It's also not a very good idea to make the new student uncomfortable." The teacher called from the front of the class, looking visibly tired but seemed to have expected this to happen, oddly enough.

"RIGHT, sensei! I am in the wrong! I see to it that Uzumaki-san feels as comfortable as possible, and if I can't I will walk around the school with my bare hands for the rest of this day!" Lee exclaimed, fiery flames igniting in his eyes. When the old teacher sighed and gave him a nod (whether that's a go-ahead sign for Lee's oath or not) before turning back to the blackboard and resumed his teaching.

Meanwhile, Naruto could only manually close his gaping mouth with both hands. After successfully doing so, he turned to face Lee with a literal question mark hanging over his head. "Oi, Bushy Brows, what the hell are you doing here?" he whispered harshly.

"Why, I'm attending my class, of course." Lee whispered back, slightly ducking under the desk to communicate with Naruto.

"No, I mean not in this classroom, but here in-" he promptly stopped when the bell rung, its noisy ringing being carried throughout the class and possibly even the whole building.

*RIIIING*

Instinctively, Naruto covered his ears with both hands, his face churning in visible pain as his honed hearing senses picked up the vibration much more than the other people did, "GAH! What the hell?!"

"Uzumaki-san…is something wrong? It's just the school bell." Lee stated with a confused face, which remained otherwise innocent. Surely, he wasn't to blame for the surprise attack on Naruto's hearing senses. "Which reminds me! School's over! If you want, I can now show you how youthful our cafeteria is!"

"Ca-cafeteria?" Naruto asked. He didn't have time to ask more as Lee pulled on Naruto's arm with strength that shouldn't be available for dead people and dashed outside of the classroom with him in tow.

* * *

_Not a moment later…_

* * *

_Main Lobby_

And it seemed that Lee didn't lose his speed, either. If anything, the dust cloud that picked up as they dashed along the hallway was a sign to how fast he actually was, and still is. Naruto wondered just how much ninja abilities Lee had recovered, because it was strange enough for him to see Lee jumping over a railing from the second floor, completely forgoing the wide staircases he passed through, and landed with no injuries.

'_Huh…'_ Naruto thought, _'Ninja training dies hard, I guess.'_

They finally stopped running like a madman when they approached a…strange machine, as Naruto could depict. It looked strangely reminiscent to a television, though on closer inspection it looked more like an arcade game console. "What…exactly is this?"

"You don't know? This is where they sell the food coupons. You don't get to really eat the food until you exchange them at the cafeteria, though." Lee explained, looking perplexed by Naruto's lack of knowledge before continuing with excitement, "The food here is so youthful my mouth waters in desire!"

"Uh huh… Right, then, mind telling me how it works? I…guess I'm kinda hungry, now that I think about it." Naruto admitted. Well, his stomach grumbled precisely after he finished saying that. The thought of being hungry while being dead at the same time perplexed him, though it only added up to the list of things that confused him in this strange world; dubbed the 'things-that-confuses-me-in-this-fucked-up-world' list.

"Well, simple. You insert your money, then you choose the food from the list here…" Lee pressed the screen, particularly the part where a blue-colored box had the writing of "Curry of Life" on it. A coupon then came out from the slit hole under the screen, which Lee quickly took. "And, ta-da, you have your youthful food coupon!"

"That sounds…complicated." Naruto commented, his face scrunched up in puzzlement, "Why don't they serve food like they do at Ichiraku Ramen? It'd be easier that way."

"Ichiraku…Ramen?"

"Never mind, maybe it's this world's custom." Naruto quickly said, waving off Lee's inquiry. He reached out into his utility pouch, rummaging through what little weapons he had left. His originally eager face suddenly dropped into a sour look when he failed to find his wallet.

"G…Gama-chan…" he muttered.

"What?" Lee inquired curiously.

"I didn't…bring my wallet."

It's not that it was even there to begin with. He doubted that he had brought it along with him when he was still in his own world. Obviously, no one would've cared enough to bring a wallet in their utility pouch—him included—into a Great Ninja War. But…that also means that he had left his froggy-wallet back in his deceased world! No force of the supernatural or the like (preferably Frederica's) could ever hope to go there and take it back for him!

May we all pray for Gama-chan, Naruto's trustworthy wallet that had gotten through a lot.

"Ah, I see. Well, if that's the case, I'll pay your food for now." Lee suggested.

"Eh? Really? Is…is that alright?" Naruto asked as the light of hope reentered his face.

"Of course!" Lee said, grinning so wide that his teeth glistened under the light. "If it is to help a friend, money is simple matter!"

"Lee…"

"Uzumaki-sa-"

"OH, NO YOU DON'T!" Naruto suddenly erupted when logic came back to him, throwing his hands up so suddenly that it socked Lee at the chin, "THERE'S NO WAY I'M DOING YOUR TWIN BROWS SUNSET GENJUTSU!"

"Gyuuuh!" Lee flew back for quite the distance. For all the wrong reasons, he ended up skidding along the floor using his face, creating a screeching noise that sounded more fitting for the soles of basketball shoes. When he flipped up to his feet again, it was shown that Lee's face held no injury (or whatever scars that should be there when your face skids along the floor).

'_Wow, his eyebrows are more formidable than I thought.'_ Naruto thought in slight amazement.

"Hmph…I expect nothing less from the infamous transfer student."

"Am I already that well-known?" Naruto asked, letting a sweat drop at the back of his head. "This place should be crawling with ninjas if that's the case."

Lee laughed at the mental image. He looked like he didn't even have that kind of thought at the first place, thus why he found it humorous. "Having a great imagination is youthful, Uzumaki-san! I admire you for finding the essence of youth so quickly!"

Eventually, Lee put in his money and smirked a little apologetically at the blonde, all the while chuckling to himself. "However, if you may, please keep this bit a secret. The student council president doesn't really looks up to us students buying foods for our friends."

"Eh? Why's that?" Naruto inquired, sounding slightly irritated and childishly angry.

"It's part of the school rule. The rule stated that 'none of the students shall buy food more than a portion for themselves'. I forgot which section that was from, but it was clearly stated by the principal in the opening ceremony. That being said, it's also forbidden to even buy food for another student."

"That's a pretty dumb rule. What's so wrong about buying food for your friends?" Not that Naruto could talk, though. He himself didn't really know about how this 'school cafeteria' works. Back at the Academy, the students always brought bento along with them, not exchanging them with coupons like how it is done here. Shikamaru would've endlessly complained about how 'troublesome' that would've been.

"I know it might sound weird, but it's the school rule. We have to follow it; otherwise the student council president would scold us for it."

"Tch, and scolding is the only thing the guy can do? How lame. I'd put my money on him being one of those 'teacher's pet' kind of student that tell the teachers on you or something like that."

"Actually…the student council president is a girl."

"…come again?"

Lee turned to Naruto, regarding his dumbfounded look with one of his own. "What, you don't know?" he asked, startled, "Our student council president is a female student from class 3-A. I didn't get her name, though, and I never actually got to meet her before."

"Huh…a girl who can keep all of you guys in line huh?" Naruto wondered aloud, trying to make an image of this student council president who was, apparently, scary enough for all the students to follow the rules despite it being tedious and pointless. All he could picture was a mini-Tsunade with iron gauntlets, hitting many students upside the head for breaking the rules.

The image made him shudder.

"Well, anyway, let's go to the cafeteria! My stomach is hungry for youthful nutrients!" Lee exclaimed, punching the air with such excitement (or perhaps hunger) that Naruto couldn't help but grin at the thick-browed teen. He couldn't quite put it, but…truth to be told, he was glad that he could meet Lee again. Even though the boy was eccentric as hell, he was still one of his friends. To be able to see him after his death was a miracle in its own way.

"What are you doing spacing out like that, Uzumaki-san?" Lee called, having walked away quite farther than Naruto realized, "Come on, let's get to the cafeteria!"

"Hai, hai, heard you loud and clear, Bushy Brows." Naruto replied with a closed-eyed grin before adding, "And by the way, it's kinda weird hearing you call me like that. Just use my given name like you usually do; it sounds better like that." While it's true that Naruto wasn't even that close with Lee (there was the issue of Lee being more or less his senpai, since he graduated earlier than him in the Academy), he had been called "Naruto-kun" by Lee so frequently that it sounded…odd for him not to call him as such.

"What are you talking about, Uzumaki-san?" Confused, Lee asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Eh?" Naruto let out, "What do you mean?"

"I mean... Like I usually do? I don't recall calling you by any other name…assuming that I've met you before."

Naruto stopped walking up the staircase. Suddenly, it was as if gravity's pull became much stronger on him when he heard Lee's words. "H-Huh? Wait…you don't remember me?"

"Ano…I don't know if I'm wrong, but as far as I know, this is the first time I met you." Lee, meanwhile, kept walking up the staircase, eventually reaching the end of the long set of stairs which ended on the upper floors. The cafeteria was dead ahead, and he didn't show any sign of stopping. It seemed that he was unaware of Naruto's state of shell-shock that left him freezing in his steps. When the blonde finally snapped out of his trance, he shook his head and ran up to Lee with an exasperated look on his face.

"Hey, hold on a second! You mean, you don't remember the Fourth Great Ninja War? You don't remember fighting against Madara and Obito back in the Elemental Nations?!" Naruto said, half-yelling out his confused statements as he stopped in front of Lee and stopped him from walking. Desperation was evident in his face, and his eyes were wide with bewilderment.

Meanwhile, Lee could only look strangely at Naruto, furrowing his eyebrows and frowning, "I…don't. Uzumaki-san, is something wrong? Did you hit your head on a rock or something similar to it? Because, what you're saying, it really makes no sense to me."

'_Quit with the "head-hitting-rock" theory!'_ the blonde meant to say that, but he was rendered totally speechless by Lee's apparent loss memory. How come he couldn't remember it? The war was very life-changing for all of them; so much that forgetting about it was very much impossible! And yet, right here and now, speaking to Lee felt like…like speaking to someone he barely knew.

What the hell happened?

"Hm? Ah, it seems my friends have gotten here earlier." Lee pointed out as he turned away from Naruto, looking towards a group of people who were seated together. Unbidden, Naruto found himself looking at the same direction. In turn, he would find out that it was the worst decision he could've made in his 16 years of living.

And frankly, he did.

There, sitting around the square tables that were deliberately connected for a group get-together, was the last bunch of people he would've expected to meet. It was strange how he could think like that; having meeting Lee previously in the 3-C classroom, he should've known he'd stumble upon these people sooner or later. So, there they were, sitting on their respective seats garbed in their strange uniform…

The Konoha Eleven.

"W-What…" With trembling lips and a shaken heart, Naruto let out weakly, "Y-You guys…"

"Oi, Lee! Over here!" That voice…unmistakably, it was Tenten's. Naruto had heard her voice more than enough to become familiar enough with it. As his shocked blue eyes scanned the group of people, he picked up more and more people that he was familiar with. Neji, Kiba, Shino, Chouji, Shikamaru, Ino…along with Hinata and Sakura. _'How… What the hell is this shit?!'_

"Huh? Who's that guy you're bringing, Lee?" Ino asked with a curious tone, standing up from her seat. As she did, Naruto noticed that she (along with the others) wore different set of clothes compared to the people who brought weapons along with them, but it was the same as the ones worn by the students in his classroom. The girls wore a set of clothing that looked similar to the one that the girl he had saved (dubbed with the name "Angel"), while the boys wore clothing in the same manner that Lee did; black jacket-like over-clothing with white shirt underneath, and a pair of non-descript black trousers.

With the exception of Chouji, of course, whose uniform looked to be easily three times the size of the normal ones. The boy himself was currently sticking food faster than ever (though the action was just as predictable as ever). The others were behaving just like Naruto remembered them to; even Sai was painting something on his handheld canvas like he used to.

"Ah, this is Uzumaki Naruto-san. He's a new transfer student and he's currently in the same class as me. Ugh…WOOOH! And I can already feel youth burning in his soul!" Lee explained, introducing the blonde to the rest of the group while being overexcited about it.

"Eeeh? A new transfer student? That's pretty cool…" Ino said, trailing off as her eyes hovered towards Naruto. For a moment, it seemed that she was challenging him to a staring contest, but that didn't seem like the case when she gave him a sultry smirk, "**He** is pretty cool…not to mention that he's quite the looker."

"Oi, Ino!" Sakura exclaimed, sounding a genuinely annoyed by no apparent reason, "Stop hogging the new kid! You're scaring him!" Ah, so there **was** a reason. And, yeah, Naruto looked somewhat scared—more like frightened, in that regard—of something. Curiously, that expression of fear was directed at the assembled Konoha Eleven. It was a strange feeling for him; to actually fear the existence of his friends was pretty much alien to him.

And yet, he did. The way they talk to him scared him as they sounded like they barely knew him, the way they look at him scared as him as they looked at him with eyes of a stranger, and the way they act towards him scared him as they acted like some people he didn't even know! When he thought it couldn't get worse, Kiba abruptly stepped forward and proved him wrong with an outstretched hand and a smirk, "New kid, huh? Well, since Lee's okay with it, I guess I'll cut you some slack. The name's Inuzuka Kiba, Blondie, and you'll remember it no matter what!"

Naruto recalled seeing Shino moving in to reprimand Kiba's abrupt introduction (in his complicated, cause-result method), but his ears were deaf to all noises. Well, not deaf in the literal meaning, but he was too busy chugging all these new information into his mind. _'They don't look like they're playing around…'_ was his first thought, _'But that's impossible! How come they're acting strange like this? It's as if they lost their memories or something…'_ His follow-up thought wasn't as comforting as he would've expected, but nevertheless there was logic in his thoughts. _'Not to mention that it'd take Ino a decade to admit that I'm cool.'_

Frederica **did** tell him that this world has something to do with memory-removal; though, if his memory serves him correctly, the memory-removal is supposed to happen after someone transcends from this world to the other. The Konoha Eleven looked like they've lost their memories before they got here, and that in itself poses a mystery.

"A-Ano…Uzumaki-san, i-is there something wrong?" Bringing him out of his thoughts was Hinata and her voice laced with concern, which was so palpable that it nearly made Naruto believe that she is the real deal. Of course, he had to admit, whether or not this 'Hinata' is a fake, she really looks like the real Hinata.

"Nah, it's nothing. I…kinda got lost in thought for a bit." He then hastily turned to Lee—or 'Lee' (the quotes made huge difference in his mind)—and gave him a nervous smile, "Ah, sorry Bushy-Brows, but I think I'm gonna have to go now. I got something I gotta do now…alone."

"Eh? So early? We haven't even eaten anything yet."

"Yeeaaah…sorry about that, but I think you're going to eat my ramen, too. Unless this place gives take-away, of course."

"Sadly, I'm afraid the cafeteria doesn't have something as youthful as that." Lee said, looking downcast and so…unlike Lee. The depressive look was so out of place that Naruto couldn't help but chuckle nervously. However, his need to do this 'something' that he had to do is bigger than his concern for the thick-browed teen, and he left shortly with a curt apology. His trudge was a simple walk down the stairs, but when he finally went through the doors he immediately changed gears and began sprinting away to the back of the school building.

To his pure embarrassment, he didn't expect the ground there to be so slippery, thus leading him to slip just when he was taking a left turn. No one was nearby to see the accident, though, fortunately for him. Unfortunately, that meant that no one was there to point out that his left cheek was covered in mud. With a sigh, he picked himself up and trotted towards the walls of the school building. For no reason at all, he found himself leaning towards it, when not a moment later he completely slid down along it and sat on the ground.

The cool, hard ground of the back park immediately brought him out of his silent trance. Noticing the same cool feeling on his cheek, he wiped it off with his hand, finally realizing that mud had vandalized his face. "…well, that went a little unexpectedly." He said to himself with a tone that couldn't be determined whether he was amused or saddened. Sighing again (he swore that would make him older soon), he began shaking his head to clear out the confused voices his mind was conjuring up.

Why is he this confused, anyway?

"Hey, Kurama, you there?" he called out; looking like calling no one in particular, but his intention was clearly to call out the fox demon inside him. After a disgruntled growl, Kurama voice was heard in his mind, **"That's a stupid question, knowing that I am always here. It's not that I could go anywhere else, anyway."**

"Yeah, yeah, spare me your sarcasm, _baka-kitsune_." Naruto said aloud, rolling his eyes in mild annoyance. He dropped his goofing demeanor and looked down at the ground around his feet, head still leaning on the brick wall of the school building. In his mind, though, he was standing up while looking at the great fox's face. Kurama was still behind bars, though he looked quite comfortable in there; he must've been sleeping before he called him. "You saw what I saw before, didn't you?"

"**Yet another stupid question. But just to satisfy your curiosity, then yeah, I saw it."** Kurama answered stingily, though he stopped scowling at the blonde like no tomorrow. **"It was…mildly disconcerting, to say the least."**

"You and me both. I didn't know that their memories are supposed to be gone like that. They didn't even recognize me…" Naruto said.

"**Well…there's something more confusing than even that."**

"Which is?"

"**First off, I don't recall Frederica saying anything about sending your friends along with us to the same world."** Kurama pointed out with a frown on his face, **"Frankly, I don't think she was even in charge of governing their souls either, since the only one she was trying to help is you."**

Now that it was said, Naruto seemed a bit more enlightened by the problem Kurama came up with. "Well…yeah, when you put it that way. Not to mention that, throughout all the other worlds parallel to ours, she never said anything about meeting the alter-selves of Sakura-chan, Lee or any other people from our world."

Kurama nodded, faintly glad that Naruto was keeping up with him. It would be annoying to have him as an idiot at this kind of times. **"I suspect that your friends' souls are sent to heaven after their death, so they are not supposed to be here at all."** All of the sudden, Kurama's frown deepened considerably, **"But, if we just say that they **_**are**_** supposed to be here, then that would make more sense. However, Frederica also said the memory deletion should be done **_**after**_** souls are transferred from this world, not **_**before**_**."**

"That's right! I've thought about that, too!" Naruto exclaimed enthusiastically. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, closing his eyes in thought, "While I don't quite remember it, I remember Rika-chan saying something like that. Still, it doesn't add up…"

"**It doesn't."** Kurama conceded. He let out an uncharacteristic sigh, sounding more tired than he showed, **"Actually, I doubt that they're even your real friends. Their existence here is nonsensical by itself, and unless Frederica decided to pull some strange trick from her sleeve, this wouldn't happen at all."**

"So…basically, you're saying that they're not real? Figment of my imaginations and the like?"

"**Oh, they're physically real. What I mean is that you can't treat them as you do your old friends back in Konoha, since I doubt that they really are the same people."**

"That…makes sense." Naruto let out. He still didn't know how to react to the pseudo-presence of his friends, but one thing's for sure is that he did not forget that they've already died. Meaning, whatever reason there is that lead him to meet his friends here—or possibly just some frighteningly accurate clone of them—he should not be acquainted to them by any chance. They are dead; both to him, and also in the literal sense.

"I guess I'll just have to get used to seeing nostalgic faces around here, then." Naruto said; making a sighing smile that was laced with sarcasm, "What a wonderful world Rika-chan ended up sending us to."

It was…rare that the Uzumaki boy showed sarcasm. As such, it caught Kurama's attention immediately, converting his intent of taking another nap to a need to ask the blonde about it. **"Are you going to be okay about this?"**

"…" For once, Naruto didn't have the urge to reply with a smartass comment; and the unusual chance of having Kurama concerned about him was usually enough for him to tease the fox. Still, he had to get used to this…melancholic feeling he has. "I'll manage, I guess… Things have been crazy lately, and I think I'm beginning to adapt to it, but I'm not sure if I can handle having my past life being slammed into my face like that for more than one time."

Kurama understood what Naruto was trying to say. Frankly, he didn't expect it either, but fortunately for him the Konoha Eleven don't have such a big impact on him. He could only imagine how Naruto was feeling after this scenario.

Just when he finally decided to turn back and leave Naruto alone for the while, a sudden tingling behind his skull warned him off an incoming foreign presence. He closed his eyes, trying to get a better grip on this presence to identify who it was. Not a moment later, he opened them with a look of surprise painted on his face.

"**It seems she really **does **want to help you."** Kurama stated, his awed expression dissolving into a satisfied smirk.

"Eh? Who does?" Looking up to Kurama, Naruto was more confused about what the fox said rather than the strangely happy smirk he had (let's face it, Kurama was never really the "Mr. Sunshine" kind of malevolent being). Thanks to him looking up, Naruto failed to recognize that another person was already there with them. Only when the person spoke with a familiar tone of condescending amusement, surprising him, did he screamed like a little girl while almost leaping out of his very skin.

And let me state it to you, Uzumaki Naruto is not a little girl. He's just kind of…sort of…scared of ghosts. Approaching from that angle, if an apparition suddenly appeared behind him and spooked him like it did, don't expect him to have a flat expression.

"Can you be any more clueless?" the person asked rhetorically; the voice proved that the person was female.

"GYAAAAH!" And there came the girlish, banshee-like scream.

In the middle of the heart-tugging shock, Naruto had instinctively made a twirling jump and put up his arms in a karate stance (despite not knowing karate), though his face was still pouring sweat like a waterfall. As he did, though, he was also able to catch a glimpse of who the person really was. He breathed out a sigh of relief when he finally noticed the familiar look.

"What the hell…so it's just you, Rika-chan? Darn it, don't scare me like that!"

To his irritation, the girl merely chuckled mirthfully rather than acknowledging his plea. A saint she was, but scaring humans like that was a good thing to do once in a while. "My apologies, I didn't know that you haven't sensed me coming. Though, it is quite amusing to see your reaction."

Naruto groaned aloud, "Look, I know I owe it to you for giving me a chance to start over, but that doesn't mean I agree to be your personal nutcase."

"**You're already a nutcase regardless, brat."** Kurama piped in.

"Shut up!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing a finger at the snout of the gigantic fox demon, "Right now, you're inside that nutcase's stomach, so behave or this nutcase is gonna shave your hair off!" There was no denial of him being a nutcase though, much to Kurama's amusement. The fox grunted aloofly before settling back to the ground, seeming contently resting as his tails wafted around him serving as a makeshift blanket.

The prospect of a humongous Bijuu needing a blanket to rest is highly imaginative, but that was what happened.

"I see that you still get along." Frederica commented.

"And I see you're still a sarcastic little girl." Naruto said back, still feeling peeved. "By the way, what brings you here, Rika-chan? Not that I don't like it, but I didn't expect you coming here of all places. I thought you're busy watching over other worlds."

The girl giggled slightly. The sound was…familiar, perhaps; though it still is unusual for Naruto to hear the girl/saint giggle like she did. Nevertheless, he found it refreshing to hear that expression.

"Did you forget about our deal already?" she asked, "I told you that I will help you to go through the world you choose. And so, here I am." She waved her hands around her, as if giving the blonde a gesture of presentation. "Sadly, though, I am only helpful in the subconscious part of you. I can't materialize in this world more than I already do since this is practically the world of the dead."

"Nah, you being here is already helpful. Still, I can imagine that it'd be cool to have you walk around here." Naruto grinned at the girl, gaining him a smiling scoff from her. "If I do walk around here, then I would have to be dead first." She said to him.

"Right…I knew that."

"Sure you did." Frederica replied with such sarcasm that Naruto found himself scowling childishly at her. Seeing the look, the blue-haired girl could only shake her head, wondering how she was still amused by the blonde's reaction despite having seen similar reactions from his alter-selves. Then, breaking her out of her musings was Kurama's voice booming throughout Naruto mindscape, **"I guess I'll chastise myself for getting curious as well, but what exactly is your intention of coming here, Bernkastel?"**

Frederica looked up to Kurama's giant fox face with a smile, "Well, hello there, Kurama. To answer your inquiry, my intention of being here is merely to make clear of some matters that I found out about in this world. I believe you both are still confused about a thing or two?"

"**Actually, we are. What do you have for us?"** Kurama asked as he shifted a bit from his position, sitting up from his previously lying position.

"First things first…" Frederica started, her purple eyes hovering towards Naruto, "I take it you two have met several…complications when you arrived?"

"Well, several." Naruto answered truthfully. "I mean, giant-ass cannons, halberd-wielding bastards and a group with strange weapons count as well, don't they?"

Frederica nodded, "That is true." Seeing Naruto let out an 'ah' of understanding, she continued, "I've gathered some information about this world. Supposedly, the people you met before are the souls that transcended from the other world parallel to this one. That, and they've come to have different means of weapons compared to yours, which is normal to them since those weapons are likely to be the ones they have in this universe."

"Ah, so they DO have strange weapons!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Not necessarily. Background check on this universe states that this universe might very well have the same means of weaponry to most other universes in existence. If anything, **your** universe is likely the one which has 'strange weapons', as you put it. Your world, along with some others, is technologically behind most other, more advanced worlds." Frederica stopped when she saw Naruto's dumbfounded look. She chuckled softly before adding, "In other words, you are retarded."

"Hey! I am not!"

"I'm speaking in terms of technological advancements." Frederica said, waving Naruto's angry look aside. "But that's not all I found out. When you encountered the other people, diverging from the earlier group, I figured that I would need to keep an eye should the same occurrence that happened with the group you fought happen again. Yet, I found out then that they are not souls, even if they have physical presence in this world."

"Not souls?" Naruto wondered aloud. "What, so they're not real people?"

"I doubt that possibility. However, I have yet to come to a conclusion about their origins. Perhaps I will, in the future, but not now." Frederica said, apologetically shaking her head.

"W-Wait, hold on! Back in the school, I saw Lee and the others from my world!" Naruto hesitated when he mentioned them, but continued without stopping, "I've been meaning to ask you this… You see, Kurama and I had speculations, but we don't actually know how they suddenly appeared in the same world as we do. You didn't send them here did you?"

"…no." Frederica said after a pause. "Your group of eleven is not under my watch. In fact, it's safe to say that I have no hand in making them appear here. For all I know, their souls are already carried over to heaven like all the normal people." She looked away for a moment at the moment Naruto deepened his gaze at her, even though he didn't realize it himself. "However, I can say this. As I've put my attention to their presence, I noticed that they have the same kind of existence as the soulless figurines in this world. Rest assured; they're not your real friends. It's only coincidence that the figurines happen to have the same outlook as your friends."

At that, Naruto released a breath he didn't know he had held in. He tilted his head back, grinning widely and happily at Kurama who smirked back to him. The giant fox also gave the same expression to Frederica, only out of gratefulness. **"I suppose I should thank you for clearing that up. The brat here has been restless with the thought of them being his real friends from our world. We…no, he needed to hear that."**

"I see." Frederica said, smiling at the both of them. Widening her smile as she remembered another thing, she then said, "Anyway, I've seen what you've done ever since you arrived in this world. Personally, I feel I have to congratulate you for saving that 'Angel' girl, despite not having to do so and without knowing anything about her."

Naruto grinned widely at the girl, "You saw that, didn't you? I was super-cool back there! Almost felt like a knight in shining armor after blasting that cannonball away with Rasengan." He blinked consequently for a while, looking like he just remembered a small detail. "Speaking of which, I think there's something wrong with my body. When I first tried to draw out my chakra—which Kurama said is nonexistent—all I got instead was a weird light-like energy. It kind of works like chakra, so I didn't have a problem using it, but I was kinda curious about it."

Frederica closed her eyes, folding her arms in front of her chest. She exhaled and spoke up, "That power you used is a power from another universe."

"Come again?"

"It's from another universe."

"O…kay. I thought hearing it twice would make me believe it, but I guess not…" Naruto grumbled, "What do you mean? I admit, this power feels weird, but for it to come from a whole different universe? That's kind of stretching it too far, isn't it?"

"…frankly, no." Frederica answered, looking strangely solemn all of the sudden. "It is very possible, given the circumstances. Even this power's properties are considerably compatible to your current soul state. Also known to the universe it comes from as 'reiryoku', it is actually useable by dead people since it is basically a spiritual power. Of course, the enigmatic question that remains is how the power transcended from its former universe to this one, befalling to you in process."

Hearing the summary from Frederica made Naruto think about it. Sure, while he was not a supernatural world-watcher, at the very least he had an idea of how the universe works. Power transfer from one universe to another is very well beyond what he would call normal; despite having gone through a set of experience that was the farthest point from normal. "Maybe something went off the moment you sent me here? Some kind of error, or something… After all, things like that **can** happen, right?"

"If it was something like that, then I would've noticed right away." Frederica replied.

"…**you sure you didn't give it to him yourself?" **Kurama asked suddenly, gaining the attention of the two people in front of his cage. **"You **_**did**_** say that you were going to help him, after all."**

"Why, Kurama, I didn't think that you would distrust me so much." The blue-haired girl said in a sweet tone—one that set off Naruto's warning signs—while smirking slightly at the giant fox. She chuckled, "If I were capable of being that helpful, I would've told you before. Unfortunately, I can't just mess around, transferring random matters from one universe to another; it would disrupt the balance."

"**Well, then who did? Obviously it wouldn't just move around on its own."** While sounding both bored and uncaring, the fact that Kurama kept on with his inquiry was enough proof that even **he** was troubled.

A sigh escaped Frederica's lips as she closed her eyes, "In this case, that is exactly what it did. Apparently, just by being here Naruto had opened up some kind of wormhole that is perhaps the passage which the power went through. To add to that, his very soul more likely than not attracted that power, even though I've never seen such a method done by a human before."

Kurama looked skeptical; he obviously didn't believe it. Either that or he just simple couldn't. On the other hand, Naruto looked ecstatic at the revelation, looking like a sugar-toothed kid that was just being told that he could never get diabetes. "For real?! Wow, this is cooler than I thought! I guess I AM talented!" he said as he jumped up and down. "Ne, ne, does that mean I can pull out other powers too?"

"I don't think so. But even if you can, I advise not to try and experiment on that." The stern look returned to Frederica's face, telling just how serious she was. "Just by wielding one power from a different universe, you have already tipped the balance of this world to the edge. Trying to do more could very well put it into an unbalanced state where the worst thing that could happen is for it to disintegrate completely."

Naruto winced at the thought, "Ouch…didn't thought that it'd be **that** bad." He sighed. "I guess this 'balance of the worlds' is really important?"

"Well, to put it simply, it is my sole duty as a Saint of Space to keep it balanced. My other duty as the Saint of Time is to guard the time line connecting the past, present and future to not be dwindled so much, but it has rarely been disrupted." The blue-haired saint explained. "As of the moment, I have no idea of how the power that came to you appeared as it did. However, I'll be on the lookout for more abnormality. I just need you to watch how you use that power on your own; it'll probably affect you differently, one way or another."

"Thanks, I guess. Though I don't really get what's happening, I guess I can leave my back for you to cover then." Naruto said cheerily, obviously still childishly excited of his newfound powers. While it's true, it wasn't chakra, but this substitution of it is pretty cool on its own! He never thought that a light-filled Rasengan could've looked that cool; ever! Then again, if Frederica wants him to use it with caution, he might need to keep his desire in check.

Kurama raised his head a little from its comfortable place on his arms—front legs in biped term—to cast a glance at Frederica. He still didn't believe that this 'Reiryoku' as she put it could just come to Naruto's lap as easily as that, but as a being bound to one world only he couldn't complain. It's not like he knew how the whole universal mumbo-jumbo works, anyway. So, throwing his suspicion out the window, he made a smirking sigh and turned away from the two human beings. **"Whatever. As long as the brat's not turning into a frog or anything, it's fine with me."**

"Why does your concern sounds like an insult, baka-kitsune?" An irate Naruto asked.

"**I have no intention on answering that, gaki."**

"Grr…"

Amidst the heated conversation (which, by the way, already seemed habitual), Frederica let out a smiling sigh good-naturedly. She couldn't help but marvel how her two subjects of miracle could talk to each other like every word has daggers pointed at each other. Yet, she found herself being amused by the exchange, more than anything she'd seen in this period of time. "I'd love to see you two bite each other's hide more, but I'm afraid I'll have to take my leave now. Multiple worlds are demanding my attention even as we speak."

"Heheh, no need to be a busy-bee, Rika-chan!" Naruto teased, "Thanks for stopping by. I guess I'll watch how I use my powers like you told me to. But…you gotta admit, this thing is worth trying on something every now and then, so…"

"Yes, yes, as long as you keep it to minimum I suppose you won't be affected by it." Frederica said, rolling her eyes and trying to sound annoyed, "Much." She added with a smirk. Her gaze lingered for more than a little while as a speck of guilt flickered in her eyes. Before Naruto could get a better look on that sudden rise of emotion, her form was already flickering in the air for a bit; going static like an old television before vanishing completely in a stream of light.

Talk about a stage exit.

"**Well, that pretty much clears everything up for us, didn't it?"** Kurama suddenly said. **"Looks like you won't have to be so concerned about those fake versions of your friends."**

"…I guess so. Still, that means I have to find my own way to deal with them." Naruto sighed. He turned away from Kurama's cage, closing his eyes in preparation to leave his mindscape. "Ah well, I'll find a way. In the meantime, I leave this place to you, Kurama. I don't think I have to say this, but we better keep an eye on this 'Reiryoku' in my body; see if it's affecting my body or anything."

Kurama grunted in approval. **"Good plan. But I deserve some nap time, all things considered."** Kurama went back to his sleeping position, **"Wake me up in a couple more decades or something…"** he said as he dozed off. Naruto stared incredulously at the giant fox, muttering to himself about how much he wished that Kurama was just joking around.

The next time Naruto opened his eyes, it was to see his surroundings in the real world. He noted that he hadn't moved; which is a good thing, of course, since that meant no one has found him when he was…for a lack of a better word, 'meditating'. He'd sure be in trouble if someone saw him doing that.

Straightening up, he wasn't surprised to hear some cracks along with his muscles lining up after being relieved from his long period of sitting. He **was** surprised, though, to hear what he could only describe as music coming from somewhere. His head spun left and right in search of its source, but as he began to listen more into the music, he realized that he would need to trust his ears more for this matter.

His ears proved to be trustworthy, actually. He pinpointed the source's location coming from inside the school building. From his current vantage point, he couldn't see it clearly, but as he followed the sound he found out that there was a balcony on the third floor. He remembered its current position when he went through the hallway before; perhaps somewhere around the classroom he was forced into.

To go there, he would need to go through the main lobby's entrance once again, but that also means risking to meet the fake Konoha Eleven again. That would be too much for him at the moment, so he opted to use another route more suited for ninjas of his caliber: the wall. Of course, doing so would usually require chakra, but since Frederica said that reiryoku would be a sufficient substitute he might as well give it a try. Summoning his reiryoku as he would usually do his chakra, he channeled it to his feet before putting his right foot to the wall.

Surprisingly, he slipped.

"What the-" And with the weight he formerly put onto his right foot for support, Naruto couldn't stop himself from crashing his face to the fine and hard brick wall. Pulling his face away from the wall, he wasn't surprised to feel the unpleasant feeling of blood gathering in his nostrils. "Guh…maybe I need to build up some speed first." A sufficient replacement it may be, but he could feel that the reiryoku was more volatile than his usual chakra. Or, at least, that's how he was feeling; maybe it's also because his body was more accustomed in using chakra.

Casting the problem off of his mind for now, Naruto took a couple of steps back. He broke into a run towards the wall not a moment later, planting his foot to the wall once again and followed it up with his other foot. He grinned when he managed to walk up halfway up the wall, but the excitement didn't last long. After two or three more steps, he lost his momentum and hung in midair, just in the process of falling.

"Holy shit!" he swore as his arms flapped around in attempt of finding something to grab on. Finding none, he closed his eyes and cursed loudly, "SHIIIIIIII-" Without realizing it, his feet were already under him and he felt himself stop, "-IIIT!" For some reason, Naruto continued to close his eyes until the obvious fact that he no longer felt the winds blowing upwards on his body came about him. He opened his eyes to see…possibly the second floor balcony.

He glanced down and saw that he was currently suspended in the air.

He blinked.

Then it hit him; he was still channeling reiryoku to his feet. Whatever's happening to him now, it must be because of **that**. "…woah." He let out, completely awed, "So there's tree-walking and water-walking, but Kakashi-sensei never told me anything about **air**-walking! This is so COOL!"

Yes, when you think about it, walking on thin air is perhaps the coolest thing next to flying with no wings. Uzumaki Naruto might have very well made a breakthrough in ninja science. That is, of course, if ninjas could use reiryoku as he did.

The blonde shinobi jumped around, testing his footing in the air. It felt completely like normal ground, honestly. And with the current pile of reiryoku he had in him right now, he could keep this up forever! He couldn't keep his grin down no matter what; the feeling was just that exciting!

However, he was reminded about his real intentions when the curious sound of music blared through his ears once again. He cocked his head to the side; whatever the sound is, it was getting louder than before. "Well…it wouldn't hurt to check it out for real, this time." That being said, he air-walked up to the third floor's balcony, vaulted over the railings and looked left and right along the hallway.

"Okay, I've officially missed out, big time." Naruto said to himself, "I didn't notice that I walked beside a balcony before; not to mention one with this kind of scenery. *sigh*, I really got to watch my surroundings more."

He walked closer towards the source of the music, hearing it getting louder and louder the closer he got to the 3-A classroom. He frowned a bit, wondering what's causing this loud, yet rhythmic music. He got even closer and began to hear someone's singing. Peeking over the room's door, he found himself staring at…

Okay, what the hell? There were a bunch of girls wearing those strange sailor uniforms—four of them, to be exact—each placed in what seemed to be a kind of formation. There were three girls standing at the front; a magenta-haired girl whose bangs trailed down the sides of her face, a ponytailed brunette, and also a long-haired blonde. The magenta-haired girl and the brunette looked more mature than the blonde and the girl with the long purplish-blue hair who was at the back, sitting behind a set of…what looked similar to a taiko, but with smaller versions of it suspended above a larger one and several plate-like…things that were held up on a thin pole; its height just reaching the sitting girl's face.

It is a strange kind of equipment.

Come to think of it, the trio of standing girls in the front was also holding some strange equipment. Naruto couldn't quite put it, but those things that they were holding looked like a blunt axe which is held in a reversed manner, with strings tied to one end to the larger part of the equipment (which _**really**_ looked like an axe for him, except that it looked more like an ornament than an axe's blade). The strange instruments looked like it packed some mass, which probably explained why those three girls had a single long fabric—the fabric was tied to the instruments—slung across their left shoulders. Those girls were rubbing their right hand fingers on the strings, but only around the area of the large part, whilst their left hand held the thinner part. He suspected that it was the handle of those strange things, though he still couldn't figure out what they're doing with it.

Meanwhile, the girl behind was hitting her miniature taiko set with as much vigor as he had only seen in Lee when he was doing his inhuman training.

'_I don't…really get what they're doing…but I guess this is what caused those sounds earlier.'_ Naruto thought, _'Can it be that they're playing music?'_ His thoughts were proven when he heard the magenta-haired girl went through some lyrics. To say that he was frozen solid when her voice permeated through the air was an understatement; a big one, at that. As the girl sung, her strong, solid voice shook Naruto's very core, rendering him gaping like an idiot. The voice was that heart-rending that the blonde didn't even words themselves that the girl was literally crying out.

He did hear something about crows, though.

He kept listening to this band of girls, playing that "crow" song with teamwork involving well-placed hits of those mini-taikos, the enchanting sounds of those stringed instruments and lastly the vocalist's own voice that completed it all. Naruto didn't realize that he had been watching it all until the group finished playing. And he was lucky that they finished when they did, because he then heard a series of footsteps coming up from a nearby stairway. Out of instinct (and pure reflex of a frightened cat), he immediately took cover; vaulting over the balcony once again, activating his air-walking ability and pressed himself to the balcony's wall. It was a perfect hiding spot since no one would suspect him being suspended in midair by supernatural powers.

'_No one but me, of course.' _He remarked mentally with a grin.

The footsteps halted just in front of the classroom he had been spying on. Then, he heard whoever made those footsteps talk, "Iwasawa-san, are you busy?" He remembered that voice, and he frowned when a certain face came to his mind. It was unmistakably that bandana-wearing aggression group leader. She must be talking to the girls in the classroom.

"Yuri? No, we just finished a song rehearsal. What's the matter? You sound…troubled." The fact that the girl—judging from the voice, it was the female vocalist's—replied meant that they both know each other. Naruto wanted to take a peek, but he won't risk himself getting found out by those people again. So he settled by eavesdropping on them, which was proceeding quite successfully.

"It's nothing. The important thing is that you're all safe." The leader girl sighed, "We just found a boy that could possibly be Angel's ally, though he himself denies that. I thought he'd be here somewhere, but it's a good thing I'm wrong."

"Really? I haven't seen anyone other than the usual NPCs." The vocalist—Iwasawa, as this 'Yuri' called her—answered. "How does he look like?"

"Hrm…" Naruto could picture Yuri having a thoughtful look, complete with puffed cheeks. And although the image was quite amusing, he held himself from peeking over the balcony's railing. "Blonde, almost yellow spiky hair, black and orange jumpsuit and a headband with a metal plate…oh, and a whisker-mark tattoo on both cheeks."

"…okay, that's definitely too abnormal to be an NPC." Iwasawa said. "Girls, have you seen someone like that?" There were several inaudible negative replies. Yuri sighed again, "Well, whatever. If you're done here, then come along. We're having a meeting to discuss how to counteract our new guy."

After that, everyone slowly filed out and left the area. Naruto waited for an extra minute to make sure that the coast was clear; nothing's wrong with being cautious. He peeked over the railing and sighed gratefully at seeing the absence of any person there. "Damn, that nearly gave me a heart attack. Don't these guys knock doors or something when they come around?"

Naruto being Naruto, he didn't take notice that his sentence was invalid since Yuri came through stairs, not doors.

"Hm…so they're already seeing my as an enemy now, huh?" Naruto wondered aloud. He groaned loudly and palmed his covered forehead, "Freaking great. A whole new world and I already got a replacement for Akatsuki chasing after my ass." He sighed, running his hand through his hair with the intent of massaging the stress away from his scalp. "I guess it can't be helped, though. I **did** sound hostile towards them the first time we met."

Grumbling about his bad luck, Naruto's eyes eventually landed to the musical instruments that the band girls left behind. Deciding that he would walk inside and take a look, Naruto then felt a strange feeling compelling him to try those instruments. He started with the mini-taiko set; he took the dual sticks that the purplish-blue haired girl used to hit it with and started hitting. It was…quite easy, for him to say the least. Though beginning with a random, awkward start, the blonde begun to get a hang of it after a few hits on different taiko drums set in front of him. The plate-like compartment, which reminded him of a tambourine, didn't make a sound anything like when the girl played it. He figured that it was because the little 'tambourine' was far too close to its twin under it, preventing it from vibrating.

"…strange taiko set. Oh well, on to the next one!"

The next one would be the stringed, axe-like instruments. He got confused when he found out that there was an odd one in the trio of stringed instruments. One of it had a longer thin part (he'll call that part the 'neck' for now), but with only four strings in comparison to the other two's six strings. He didn't know why it was made different, but he shrugged his shoulders and blew his confusion away. The weight was not all that much, proven by the total tension his left shoulder felt when he slung the fabric across it. He then held the neck of it, before rubbing his fingers on the strings. It was then that he made a startling realization.

Breathtaking musical sounds; this instrument has none.

He frowned in confusion. The music was definitely there when the girls played it, so why is it refusing to make the same kind of sound now? Is this…favoritism?! "Maybe the ones with six strings have a better opinion about me. Screw you, four-stringed instrument!" Naruto said, raising a middle finger to the equipment he just held in an offending manner. However, he made a startling realization yet again when he tried the two other instruments.

Breathtaking musical sounds; these instruments have none.

"N-No…" Naruto whimpered pathetically, falling to his knees. "Stringy…" (yes, he has probably gone nuts, naming a stringed instrument "stringy"), "Why? WHYYYYYY?! Am I not blessed with the ability to make good music using strange equipments?!" Naruto continued groveling. Then suddenly, he snapped his head up with a gasp, "I get it! You're testing me to see if I'm good enough to make good music! Well, if that's the case, then prepared to be played, Stringy!" Naruto jumped up to his feet and grasped the neck of one of the six-stringed instruments, "UZUMAKI NARUTO IS GONNA ROCK AND ROLL!"

* * *

_Several hours later…_

* * *

Eventually, Naruto DID roll.

On the ground, with tears streaming down his face.

"...I'm hopeless..." he let out a muffled muttering, face-down to the ground. "This thing isn't making **any** sound, good or bad! This is worse than turning into a half-frog in Senjutsu training!" He was exaggerating, of course. Turning into a human-frog hybrid is still, by far, the scariest experience.

"I don't always fail in learning something…" Naruto grumbled to himself, "But when I do, it's to play a stringed musical instrument. And it's either me, or these shitty instruments really aren't worth the effort." He sighed and took the sling of fabric off of his shoulder before leaning the stringed instrument to the wall. He scratched his head, deciding that he'd wasted enough time as it was and walked towards the door.

Exiting the classroom became his plan up until the magenta-haired girl from before appeared.

And he realized that someone up there must've hated his guts or something.

Caught utterly off-guard by the sudden appearance of the vocalist, Naruto could only stare at her whilst having to bear the same kind of stare from her. And damn right; even though she was his probable enemy, she didn't do anything except staring at him without as much as blinking in interruption. It went like that for seconds…minutes…until eventually, the girl broke the awkward silence, "Um…this is kind of…awkward."

Naruto blinked owlishly after hearing the statement, "Hoh?"

"It's just that, Yuri told us to watch out for you in case you attack us. She definitely didn't explain how we should act if any of us find you out rather than the other way around."

At this point, Naruto had to actually tilt his head in confusion. Well…he certainly didn't have an opinion for that. "Er…aren't you supposed to…I don't know, bring me in dead or alive, collect the bounty or something?"

"Do I look like a Jango Fett to you?" the girl asked as a sweat-drop formed on her head.

"What's a mango fat?"

"…never mind." The girl shook her head, sighing. She jabbed a thumb to her person, "Iwasawa."

"Eh?" Naruto let out confusedly.

"That's my name." she simply said. Naruto furrowed his eyebrows, trying to make the perfect image of the facial form of a silent 'So?' question. When Iwasawa didn't continue her introduction, it finally occurred to Naruto that she was waiting for him to make an introduction himself. "Oh! Uh, ano…Naruto." He started with a stutter, "Uzumaki Naruto."

"Oh? Straight on with the given name, too?" Iwasawa asked in surprise, "Huh. I didn't expect that. Yuri kind of pictured you as a hard-ass bastard from her description of you."

"Nah, that position is already taken by a friend of mine." Naruto waved off her comment, his mind wandering to a certain raven-haired, emo-istical Uchiha.

Iwasawa hummed in response, sound like she was trying to test something on Naruto. "Well, you look kind of friendly, despite what she said. By the way, what are you doing here?" She was talking to him as if the fact that they were from two different sides didn't matter to her. Naruto eyed her left sleeve… No doubt, there was that same symbol as the others from the weapon-wielding group; the 'SSS', as the symbol stated. Yet, despite that, Naruto felt like he could make a normal conversation with Iwasawa.

"I guess I was just curious about the instruments you guys were using when you played." Naruto said, shrugging his shoulders, "I overheard you and your friends playing a song, and I can't help but listen to it as well as watch you guys play."

"You were watching us?" Iwasawa asked.

"Yeah, while hiding." Naruto answered with a nod.

"…okay, I guess." Iwasawa quirked an eyebrow, getting a bit more curious about this enigmatic blonde. He must be very skilled in hiding if he escaped everyone's notice under their noses like he said he did.

"Yeah, and then I tried to play these things. That mini-taiko set back there is pretty easy, but these guys over here," Naruto pointed a finger to the stringed instruments, "refused to be played for some reason. I tried rubbing my fingers on the strings, and flicking it, but it just won't make any sound!"

"Eh? You mean the electric guitars?"

"Electric...yeah, whatever they're called!" Naruto said, throwing his arms up helplessly.

"..." Iwasawa continued to stare at Naruto; this time her stare was laced with faint incredulity. She surmised that he was playing dumb, but he looked to be seriously confused and there wasn't any trace of mischief in his eyes. That alone meant that he really knew nothing. She then spoke up again, giving Naruto a strange look, "I see you like that guitar… I don't know if you already realize it, but the fact that it's named 'electric' guitars meant that they need **electricity** to be played. Here, like this…" the girl walked towards one of the "guitars", as she said they're called, before taking a cable with a pointed steel edge and stabbed it clear through the hole at the bottom side of the guitar.

"Oh, so THAT'S what you gotta do first. So are these boxes power batteries or something?" Naruto asked again.

"Huh? No, they're not batteries. They're called amplifiers."

"Uh huh…could've fooled me. I don't see how this little guy here," Naruto placed his foot on top of the so-called amplifiers, "can amplify anything."

Iwasawa chuckled, "You'd be surprised to know. If you really wanna know, than why don't you place your face in front of it? It'll show you exactly what it amplifies." Surprisingly, Naruto trusted her enough to do exactly the thing; placing his face right in front of the amplifier with a curious look. "Like this?"

"Closer."

"Okay…how 'bout now?"

"Better. Oh, flip that switch under the red bulb over there, please? It's the turn on button."

"Hrm…" Naruto found the button in no time, turning on whatever the devil the machine was supposed to be. "Oh, and there's a switch under a smaller light bulb next to it. Press it." He heard Iwasawa said, and he begrudgingly complied although he was beginning to suspect what Iwasawa was actually planning to do. _'Oh well, it can't be anything bad, right? I mean, sure they're some guys with a sick fetish with weird weapons, but Iwasawa here doesn't seem half bad.'_ He thought optimistically.

Unfortunately for Naruto, he always had a horrifically bad luck with women. I mean, she got a girl who always hit him upside the head for being an insensible idiot (Sakura), a girl whose love for him went unnoticed until she actually confessed it to him (Hinata, and she died once after that confession), another woman who probably would've punched him upside the head for being an insensible idiot if she had been alive (his own mom), and finally a Saint of Time and Space whose sense of amusement was an animosity towards him (Frederica).

Iwasawa will be added to that list, though he remained oblivious to it.

Back to them, the machine emitted a strange, low-volume humming noise that only served to make Naruto even more curious. He was now literally pressing up his ear to the amplifier. Iwasawa nearly felt sorry for him; _**nearly**_ did. The excitement of what her plan was about to bring washed that feeling away, though, and she smirked slightly before settling her left fingers to hold the strings in the D chord before strumming all the strings with all her might.

The result was devastating.

As the vibration of the strings was carried out to the amplifier, it changed the voice it was making from the blank hum to a high-pitched cry of…something evil, right to Naruto's eardrums. And at that moment, the blonde quickly revised the finding he made before.

Mind-blowing musical sounds; 'Stringy' and its stringed pals have it.

Scientifically, the sounds that the amplifier emitted were just that; sounds. However, it seemed that the sound wave was powerful enough to fling Naruto away. Either that, or Naruto had quickly scrambled away in sudden fright. He was sure he suffered a mini-heart attack and the loss of hearing for a short period of time.

"-maki. Uzumaki!" Oh look! Now he was even hearing things in static!

"Ugh…I don't know what you did, but that's one hell of a prank." Naruto muttered. He shook his head wildly to clear the cobwebs forming in his head, "But never mind that! What the HELL was that for?!"

"I wanted to see if you're just messing around with me. It seems…you're really serious." Iwasawa told him calmly.

"What part of me made me look like I'm joking?!" Naruto remarked with a pissed off expression. When he realized that—with his vein popping on his temples, teeth grinding against each other, and eyes comically turned into saucers—his expression was at the very far end of seriousness, he sighed and waved his right hand in front of him. "Never mind, forget I said that." He said, pinching the bridge of his nose, "What I'm trying to say is, was it really necessary to blast my ears off?"

"Nah, not really." The magenta-haired vocalist gave him a sheepish grin that told him that the girl was _**at least**_the tiniest bit sorry, "It's just that I was curious about how you would react to it. And…you don't really seem like a bad person."

"Gee, thanks for the compliment." Naruto said, rolling his eyes in annoyance, pouting as he did, "You could've used some other ways, though."

"Hai, hai, sorry about that." She smiled innocently at him with closed eyes, prompting him to look away with a slight blush. Iwasawa settled the guitar down on a stand, next to the other instruments, and turned back to face Naruto. "So, what are you planning to do next?"

"Well, obviously I won't be telling that to you." Naruto stated.

"Why?"

Naruto raised an inquisitive eyebrow at Iwasawa's question; he thought it was stupid that she even asked that. "Why are you even asking me that? I mean, you're one of **them**! You're supposed to be…well, not that I want us to be, but you guys don't really like me all that much. That and I've been through this kind of scenario many times before to know that I have my face on your hit list."

"Actually, we don't have something like that to begin with." Iwasawa said with a sweat-drop on her head. She sighed, raking her left hand through her bangs, "We have no intention of fighting you, Uzumaki. At least, not after Yuri figured out that you're a normal human rather than the God that we're searching for."

"She thought I'm God?" Naruto crinkled his face in confusion, "I don't know where that idea came from, but I'm definitely not." The highest kind of being he had met that was even _**remotely**_ close to omnipotence is Frederica, and even then she is just a saint. And while he wasn't a normal person either, thinking him as a god…well, that's blasphemy in a nutshell. Of course, he wasn't one to speak; Konoha itself didn't have a religious doctrine, so every villager had their own perception of God.

"Anyway, what makes you think I'll tell you what I'll be doing?" Naruto asked once again, bringing them back to the previous topic.

"Two things, Uzumaki. One is that you have no idea about this place, two is that you don't really have anything planned." It was either the direct hit that Iwasawa's statement had made, or it was her all-knowing smirk; either way, Naruto visibly flinched. This girl…is more perceptive than he thought.

"I'm right, aren't I?"

"Geh…" Being pushed even further into a corner wasn't working in Naruto's advantage. He growled lightly and shook his head, "So I **don't** have anything in plan. So what? That doesn't mean I have to come with you."

"Maybe not, but I'm also right about the first one." Iwasawa said knowingly, "It's normal not to know anything about this world. But if you join us, then you'll-"

"Hey, I **know** some things about this world." Naruto interjected, annoyed by how the girl was making him sound like a total oblivious dweeb, "I know that this world is some kind of purgatory and I'll go back to the real world if I pass this one. I'm also dead, I get that too. But other than that…well, yeah, I don't really know much." Well, all those information was acquired from Frederica, of course. He came to terms about all those facts a while ago, so he utilized them with utter ease.

"Wow, you know a lot for someone who just got here." And Iwasawa wasn't just saying that, either. Not all people would make random assumptions of this world being an afterlife, and just happen to get lucky guesses like that. "…but still, you don't know anything about Angel, do you?"

"I know that she's a girl that you're all ganging up on, that's for sure." The blonde said, scowling.

"It's really not like how you made it sound to be…" For all the wrong reason, Naruto's scowl deepened as Iwasawa tried to explain the Battlefront's course of action. The reasoning that the Battlefront have is quite logical by human standards. By herself, though, she wouldn't be able to say much. She wasn't the leader; Yuri is. If there was anyone that can explain these things thoroughly and perhaps make this whisker-marked teen understand them, it was her and her alone.

"Look, I don't want to say anything on the Battlefront's behalf, just in case I would say something wrong. So if you just give us a chance to explain ourselves; if you just hear us out, then you'll understand why we're doing what we do." She hoped her pleading tone was sufficient; she didn't become a vocalist for nothing.

It seemed that her words got through to Naruto (and his stubbornly thick skull) if his contemplating look was anything to say about it. His frown was slowly dissolving into a neutral straight line. _'I don't like the sound of this, but…'_ he started to think, eyeing Iwasawa with a critical eye. _'But then again, how I've thought about them all this time is based on my own assumptions. I never really did give them time to explain themselves.'_ As his mind formed that line of thought, he sighed, _'I guess it's worth a shot.'_

"So, what, you're expecting me to go with you to your little group?" Naruto inquired.

Iwasawa gave him a friendly grin, "That's what I had in plan."

Troublesome. Yeah, that's probably what Shikamaru would've said in this kind of situations.

* * *

_At that time…_

* * *

_Anti-Angel Headquarters (Principal's Room)_

At the meantime, the Battlefront members were indulged in a serious discussion; once again having the enigmatic blonde as the main topic. Noda had pitched in that the blonde called himself "Uzumaki…something-that-sounded-like-a-ramen-topping". Well, they could learn about his name later on, if they have the chance or misfortune to meet him again. For now, however, they were back discussing how they should deal with the blonde. To be frank, now that they had seen what he was capable of doing, all of the members had no idea what to do to counteract him.

Fight him? They could only keep up for so long against Angel, and they didn't want to add another super-powered being in that list; not to mention they had limited ammunitions. Shiina could probably fight him since she probably was the most talented fighter in the group, but one girl could only do so much.

Recruit him? Probably a workable idea if they didn't let him off with such a bad impression. With what he had seen, Uzumaki had concluded that they were trying to destroy Angel; and he stated defiantly that he would fight them if it comes to that. He probably didn't know that they couldn't die no matter what in this world. However, his obliviousness was a problem to be solved later; as it was, the fact that he believed that he should protect Angel (whether as an act of heroism or not) is a problem.

Leave him be? That…was actually what they were doing.

Despite how Yuri felt that they were supposed do something, the lack of idea was discouraging. Even with various minds pitched in to form an idea (and Hideki's, purely for humor relief), they had no choice but to leave things as it is for the meantime.

"I can't believe we're stuck without anything to do." Hideki suddenly piped up, breaking the silence, "With all the things that happened, you'd think that we should do something about **him**."

'_No argument there.'_ Otonashi thought to himself. He looked towards Yuri, who for once looked to be more silent than usual. _'I can't believe I'm saying this, but Hinata's right. Usually, Yuri would've figured something out already; executing weird operations and all.'_ The girl herself then sighed as she sunk further into the moving chair she was sitting on. She looked annoyed, if anything, though it wasn't clear if the cause was Hideki or the situation they were in.

Mostly it's Hideki though. He pisses her off the most, usually. This time…meh, not so much.

"It's not like I want us to do nothing, either! With things going as it is, this 'Uzumaki' is getting just as troublesome as Angel. And as much as I want to deal with him, we would have our hands full and our backs turned to do anything else." It was the truth. Focusing on Uzumaki alone will take their eyes off of Angel; that was something they could not afford. At the same time, multitasking on them both would prove to be more of a handful for them.

This…was exactly why she disliked not doing anything. It made her—it made all of them—feel helpless and restless.

"You know what, here's an idea." A sudden voice called out. All members' attention converged on the voice, and stared at an agitatedly twitching Noda. "How about we stop **thinking** about it, go out there, and just **act** on it?! I mean, come on! That little pipsqueak won't be much of a fight if all of us fight him!"

"You were barely holding him off alone; the strength of Shiina-san, Hinata and you combined wasn't enough to dam his own; and even with all our members present, he was still able to escape." Matsushita pointed out; his solid voice boomed too sudden for any of the others to say anything otherwise. But it wasn't just his voice; the logic in his words was sound. And as much as Noda was annoyed of being reminded of it, he was silenced effectively.

Before they can enter another prolonged silence, though, they heard a mumbled voice beyond the office door. "No God, no Buddha, no Angels." Was what the closest to the door (that being Shiina) could audibly perceive. The next thing that happened, the door opened up on one side, giving way for someone to enter. The process seemed to go in slow-mo (in the spectator perspective) as the door seemed like something out of a fairy tale; with the usually inaudible screech in the doors hinges suddenly being loud enough to resound throughout the room, and the person who went through it trudging in slow-mo.

Well, correction: Persons. As in, people. As in, plural sense of the same thing.

"That password…disturbs me. A lot." A male voice said, sounding annoyed, "Seriously, of all the things you could've said…"

"It's what we all agreed on." Another sound—recognizable as Iwasawa's—replied, "And to tell you the truth, I think it's befitting; given the name of our base of operations."

"I swear…" the other voice muttered. As they both entered, Iwasawa's presence wasn't all that surprising since they heard her voice when she was coming in. It was the other person that she brought along that literally shocked them frozen. It was…kind of ironic, when you think how they all had wished for something to happen, and for them to give themselves migraine just thinking about it.

At the time, the arrival of the enigmatic blond, Uzumaki Naruto, was something that none of them had seen through.

Naruto looked around, slightly shocked to see the faces of the group he had stood up against before. Unlike what he thought he would do, he grinned at them all, "Huh. So is it the 'assembly of crazies' time, or I'm actually raining on someone's parade?"

"_T-Teme!_" Noda let out. He tried to put up a brave front, but anyone could see that sweat had gathered on his forehead.

"Woah, woah, what the hell…?" Hideki said; eyes wide in disbelief.

"Keh…now this is unexpected." Fujimaki grumbled, tightening his grip on his shirasaya.

"Ah…awawawa…" Well, Ooyama didn't **literally** say anything, but let's just take his nervous stutter as a reaction.

"How shallow-minded…" No, Shiina, this is pretty deep, actually.

The other members were silent; their narrowed eyes were enough of a reaction to his sudden appearance. Meanwhile, Yuri had straightened up from her seat and interlaced her hands in front of her face. _'And just when things __**should not**__ get worse…'_ She let out a long, drawn-out sigh that fortunately loosened up the stress building up at the back of her head. She then talked, "Iwasawa…pardon my Japanese…but what the fuck?"

"Well, he agreed to talk on friendly terms with us, and he said that he would let us explain ourselves. And also, to note, he's actually not that bad of a person." Iwasawa reasoned. She smiled and winked at the Battlefront leader, "You have my guarantee on this."

Otonashi, who was silently watching with a disbelieving face the whole time, sweat-dropped, _'You're saying it like that'll settle everything.'_

"Your guarantee?" Yuri repeated, still not believing. She hummed in thought, placing a hand under her chin; before closing her eyes after a while and saying, "Well, alright, let's hear him out."

'_Eh?! That's pretty easy.'_ Shock, Otonashi, is something that you'll have to prepare for in the near future, and all the other futures following it.

As the attention shifted back to Naruto, the blond suddenly looked strangely flustered. That loosened them up a bit; at least he was a normal person, or at least behaving like one. The spiky-haired ninja then started to speak, "Um…I've thought about what you said before; about…this group of yours and how we can protect each other, and explain things that we don't know."

"I did say that." Yuri complied with a nod. Her face was serious; like a face etched to granite stone, set with an unmoving frown. "Why? You've finally agree to join our Battlefront?"

Most of the room's occupants didn't like the way that sounded. Noda looked back to Yuri, as if silently asking her _'Are you fucking serious?'_ as did most of the other people that had encountered Naruto firsthand. Even Otonashi, who usually stayed neutral, looked like he was questioning his leader's idea. Naruto, hearing the inquiry, frowned a bit before deciding to give her a piece of his mind, "Look, before I even **consider** joining you guys, I demand some answers. This world; I know why I'm here, and I have an idea of what is it for. But like I said, if anyone can explain to me what this world actually is, then I'll ask them right away."

Swallowing his pride, Naruto then asked with a pointed look, "So…mind telling me what this world actually is?"

* * *

_Frederica's realm…_

As always, the orbs of crystallized memories hovered around the endless space. Although the realm lacked the ends to define its center, it seemed that Frederica was the center of it all; like the orbs were revolving around her presence. The saint knew this, of course—she already has for a long time—but even presented with that knowledge she never felt ecstatic about it.

For sure, she never was a person who can show much of her emotions through her expression. Most of the times, her face was set in one grim expression.

However, the face she now wore ever since her return from the world Naruto is in was perhaps the most depressed look she ever had on. Her own feelings were currently in a mess, so to speak. That was not as surprising as she thought it would be; even if she had thought that it would be outrageous for her to feel like this. This unsettling feeling that lodged itself in her chest was akin to guilt, for she had done something she knew she shouldn't have.

She lied to Naruto. To be exact, she didn't tell him the exact truth. And what is the truth?

"…what have I done?" she wondered aloud. No one answered her; not that she expected anyone to.

In regards of the figurines that just "happened" to have the same looks and appearances as his eleven friends from Konoha; she lied about it being a coincidence. Granted, they're really just figurines, but what caused them to appear as so wasn't by mere coincidence and she knew what caused it. In fact, the cause of the mysterious power he gained—a power that wasn't supposed to be his by any natural means—was one and the same.

"Why are you doing this? And of all people…why him?" Questions began flying out of Frederica's mouth. Like before, there was no one around to answer her, but the accusative tone she used proved that she was directing them to a particular someone. There was more anger than disbelief welling inside her throat, resulting in a low growl when her eyes focused on one occupied spot.

"What reasons do you have to disturb his passing, Lambdadelta?!"

A childish, yet disturbingly manic giggle answered her question. The person who let out the laugh was a little blonde girl who was not so different from Frederica, except for her brighter choice of clothing and shorter hair. Her irises were colored hazel red. Clad in a pink dress, wearing a pink hat and black gloves as well as white-pink striped stockings, while red bows decorated her every article of clothing (plus a curious piece of pumpkin-like piece on her left abdomen), it was glaringly obvious that she differed to Frederica in many ways. Her presence was imposing; it was safe to say that it was equal even to Frederica's own.

"Aww~ come on, Bern. You don't have to be so angry about it!" the blonde girl said sweetly. "When was the last time I had the chance to do something fun? Eons ago, that's the answer~."

"This is no joking matter! You're interfering with the passing of a very important person!" Even with the friendly tone that Lambdadelta used, Frederica wasn't relaxing in the slightest. On the contrary, she looked even fiercer as she tried to contradict the blonde's action. "Explain to me why you would disrupt the balance in this world by not only recreating visages of Uzumaki Naruto's comrades, but also giving him access to an amount of reiryoku equal to that of a captain-level Shinigami!"

"Ahahaha! My, my, aren't you the accusative one?" Lambdadelta hovered towards Frederica, stopping just behind her. She smiled darkly as she continued, "What makes you think that it was all my doing? There is no absolute proof that points all this towards me."

"You cannot fool me, Lambdadelta." Frederica stated as her anger was reaching its peak, "Who else would be able to create this false reality, other than Witch of Certainty herself?"

The Witch of Certainty, Lambdadelta. A witch so powerful, so in-tune with the supernatural that her powers can shift and change the very foundation of reality itself as long as the end result of that change is not a hundred-percent impossible. This was the persona hidden underneath her childish features, which succeeded in deceiving most mortals she appeared in front of. Legend says that she was so powerful that there was only one other mage capable of defeating her.

"Ah, ah, ah, so you're using my status to push me into a corner? Well, not a bad move, but-"

"**[Blue] Lambdadelta is the one who opened the portal from ****«****universal code: Bleach****» to transfer «energy matter: Reiryoku», and the one to also create visages of Uzumaki Naruto's comrades! [Blue]"** Frederica bellowed with all her breath, her eyes finally turning into the demonic purple orbs as her anger reached its peak. There was a strange energy backing up her words, as if she put her own strength into them. Blue light flared behind her like blue infernal flames as the result of the energy behind it. The blue-haired girl calmed down after releasing her pent up anger in her statement, and the full-purple red-dotted orbs her eyes were returned to its calmer shade of purple. "Well, Lambda? Try to deny that with your red truth, if you are sure that is **not** what happened."

As Frederica had expected beforehand, the blonde girl remained silent. That is, until she broke out in a mirthful chuckle. "I see you still remember our game rule from '**that**' game. I'm amazed. That's the one rule we agreed on following even as the boundless beings we are. Hmph…well, you had me there. Yes, I admit, it was my doing. Honestly, to think that you would point out 'general location' and 'specific matter' in such a detailed manner…"

"I've grown more powerful than I was for a long time, my friend." Frederica said proudly. "And, to remind you, you haven't answered my question."

"I was bored, Bern~. And you know how antsy I get when boredom gets to me!" Lambdadelta whined, suddenly hugging Frederica from behind and completely forgoing the fact that she was touching at all the…wrong places. The close contact meant nothing to the blue-haired saint, so she remained silent. The blonde witch continued despite the lack of response, "So I thought, since you got yourself a cute little piece, I might as well play with him a bit. Of course, I'm well-aware of the rules. With the mental pressure put to him by the presence of people similar to his dead friends as the handicap, I gave him another power as payment. It is well in my range of certainty."

"Naruto is not my piece." Frederica denied. The thought of him being one of her…pieces made her tense. She hadn't thought about using people like that since a very long time, and she wasn't going to start again. "He is his own person; a human under the care of God! Knowing that, what are your intentions?"

"Isn't it obvious? Play a game, of course!" The girl laughed oddly cheerfully, even though her next sentence dropped the psychotic hammer, "In which driving Uzumaki Naruto insane is the main goal! I've already made my first move of tormenting his soul, Bern, and I'm waiting for your counterattack!"

"A…game?" A small gasp escaped Frederica's lips, while her eyes widened a fraction. "You…you're trying to make this a game like last time?"

"I thought I made that fact clear." The blonde girl then tightened her hug on Frederica's small frame, "Ne, Bern~, why don't we play again like last time? It'll be fun to see how this human being can outlast our torture. And who knows, maybe you can win against me again!"

The invitation, in of itself, was revolting for Frederica. Acting on that feeling, she twisted under the blonde witch's hug, eventually escaping from her hold. She turned around to face Lambdadelta; face set emotionlessly rigid. Not a second later, light enveloped her body—leaving out her head unlit—as her clothing began to change in turn. The once plain, pale green sundress was then magically replaced with a set of clothing more fitting to be called as 'gothic lolita'. A white, frilly long-sleeved dress worn under a short-sleeved black fabric-jacket (I don't know what the hell those are called. Reference, please?), with a blue bow decorating her collar. There was a material similar to a cat's tail with a smaller blue bow tied to its end, possibly stitched to the back of her dress. And her feet, once bare, was now covered with a pair of white socks and black shoes.

"My, my…so you decide to play?" Lambdadelta curiously inquired. She missed the sight of her beloved Bern in that dress; it was almost nostalgic when she remembered the last time she saw her wearing that.

"Play? On the contrary, Lambda. I have no intention of following you in this game you create in the world that is under **my** watch, nor do I encourage you to disturb Naruto's passing anymore than it is." Frederica balled her hands into fists, her eyes glaring daggers at her friend/adversary. "He is a special individual who is rightfully granted a second chance. And as long as he is under my watch, I will not let his second chance be ruined!"

"Hm?" Lambdadelta hummed questioningly as she eyed the saint strangely. "Wow, Bern, you're acting veeery strangely. You were never this caring towards a human before." She giggled and twirled in her place, unconsciously hovering upwards as she did. Her giggle grew into a full-blown laugh when she finally stopped spinning, then she regarded Frederica with amused eyes. "Or…has your ascension to a saint softened you so?"

"That is none of your business." Cold was her tone, but Frederica's eyes was literally burning with a torrent of masterfully-veiled emotions. "Go away, Lambdadelta. I will not stay idle while you turn this world and his inhabitants as your plaything."

"AHAHAHAHA! Oh, well then, I guess you'll have to work hard to prevent me from doing exactly that. If you think you can, then fight me with all you got! Prove to me that I cannot lay a hand on Uzumaki Naruto!" Once, a cute childish face that seemed rather innocent, Lambdadelta's face then turned to that of a manic psychopath with no intention of being nice. A demonic grin spread across her face, and her red pupils were dilated as her eyes widened considerably. Arms spread wide beside her, she looked nothing like the child her small body suggested her to be.

"Prove my certainty wrong; Witch of Miracles, BERNKASTEL!"

**-End of Chapter 2-**

**-xo-**

And that's all folks…  
Sorry, can't hold myself. Kinda ruins the mood, I know. I myself can't imagine being a pig in the center of a multi-color circle saying that.

Well, chapter 2 is done. Not as well as I'd planned before, since putting imagination to reality needs the power of either a witch, an esper, or an alchemist. Of course, since real life is not a Toaru Majutsu no Index anime, that's not bound to happen. Oh well…

And, surprise, surprise! The appearance of another witch, Lambdadelta! And turns out that the whole disruption that's happening on Naruto is all her doing! Wonder what other craziness she'll make :D Also, my thanks to Oroboro2. I'm using his construction of the 'colored truths' writing; the same one he used in his crossover story The Counterattack of Haruhi Suzumiya, which is an Umineko-Haruhi Suzumiya series crossover. Pretty darn good one, too! You should read it.

Trivia Time!

»The Konoha gang in the Afterlife? Not necessarily. As explained by Frederica, they're not _**actually**_ the real gang. Mere figurines, that's all. However, Naruto will not cope with them as easy, and classifying them as 'fakes' will be tough as hell.

»Indecisive Yuri? Yes, she is. I admit, in the series she is shown to be more brash and decisive than she is in my story. There's me to blame for that, actually. I didn't quite get a good grasp on Yuri's personality like most authors do, even when I've watched the series countless times.

»Reiryoku-wielding Naruto is epic? Assuming this is what you think, of course; then yeah he's EPIC! I gave him the air-walking ability of the standard Shinigami early on since I can't find a good time for it in the later chapters. Hope that's logical enough for you.

»Naruto, the Music Retard? He won't always be one. The fact that electric guitars doesn't exist in Konoha nor the Elemental Countries contributes to his lack of knowledge in today's Rock 'n Roll.

»Umineko reference? Yeah…I DID pull some out from Umineko. A reviewer of mine told me that Frederica is also a character in Umineko (though I was purely using the reference from Higurashi no Naku Koro ni: _Minagoroshi-hen_), and I found that she is a witch named Frederica Bernkastel. From there on, I was like "Wow, I am really disrespecting Ryukishi07 for turning Frederica (Bernkastel) into something she isn't". So, pulling a late card out of my ass, I decide to make her an ex-Witch of Miracles that ascended to a Saint of Time and Space.  
And of course, I also inserted Lambdadelta from the same series. Hope I pictured her as well as she really is.  
However, this doesn't mean it'll turn into a horror mystery fanfic just by simply me adding Umineko into the mix. After all, I suck at writing those kind of stories.

Well, that's the end of today's trivia! Any other questions shall be sent to me through PMs since I'm such a lazy douche :D

Coming up next: A temperamental battlefront leader, a ninja being kept away from ramen (oh, the TORTURE!), and Shikamaru running a lap!

-Next Chapter-

"Fight against God?"

"Just wiiild heaven, dude."

"You're on our side whether you like it or not."

"It doesn't matter…"

'_Can I really do this?'_

"Operation…START!"


	4. Chapter 3: Neutral Party

/AN/: First of all, I am terribly sorry for updating this late. It's been, like, ages since I last posted anything. High school sucks, but the homework they give me is the bane of all existence. No excuse, I know, but time-management isn't really my strong point.

Diverging from my self-related problems, I realize that my story might not be…much in the favor of the readers. The storyline sucks, perhaps, and the slow pace of my updates might be annoying as hell. And there's also the pairing issue. Some of you might disagree, others might agree. I take into account of whatever complaints and opinions you guys have, but I won't be making a huge (like, MAJOR huge) change in the storyline. I…want to write stories that I **want** to write, without the usual "I have to" phrase being my motivation. Otherwise, it's just a dull story.

So, in the end, the story might still progress in a way that some of you might disagree with. Criticism is always accepted; but on the off-chance that those constructive criticisms turn into flames, I'll do nothing but bull myself through it.

RIGHT! Now that all that depressive shit is said, it's DISCLAIMER TIIIIIME~  
But this time, I'll be a good Samaritan and do it myself for a change!

**Disclaimer: SpinLord, aka me, doesn't own Naruto and Angel Beats, and the characters in both franchises aren't his either. And the included elements which are the witches from Umineko no Naku Koro ni aren't mine either.**

**-xo-**

**-Chapter 3-**

And Then There's a Neutral Party

One lengthy explanation later, which consisted of Naruto being told about this world and the whole fiasco between the Battlefront and Angel, the situation had calmed down a bit. Calmed down defines to the fact that at least none of them appeared to prepare themselves to jump on Naruto's throat and vice versa. Of course, the thought of one relatively short boy being a threat to them was quite laughable (admittedly, Naruto's height of 166 centimeters wasn't nearly as imposing as most of the males in the room).

Noda still remained as he was, but that's only because both him and the blond had unfinished business. That, and the painful reminder of a kick to the balls weren't exactly the best calming stimulus his brain could have.

Getting back to what Naruto heard… afterlife, Angel, God, lifeless model students called NPCs (acronym for "non-whatable whatchamacallits"… Hey, don't blame him for not remembering what it's really called! It's not actually a universal term of a word).

"Okay… So let me get something straight here." Naruto was still confused, but he could make heads and tails from Yuri's explanation. "So this world is called the…afterlife, right?"

"Yup." Yuri complied, nodding at him.

"Right. And you're all here because you died with a regret or two; something that God did to your lives that made you all rebel against Him by making this "Afterlife Battlefront". Unfortunately, as you say it, there's an entity that prevents you to outright fight Him, and that entity is the girl you call "Angel"." Naruto looked thoughtful at the mouthing of his own sentence. He tilted his head and turned his sights to the other people present in the room, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but she's just a normal girl, isn't she?"

It was Hideki who answered him, "Well, we can't blame you for not knowing, since you haven't seen what she can do. Actually, she can do much more than a normal girl can do. Not to mention she's a hell lot stronger, too."

"Really?" Naruto gave him a dubious look before shaking his head. "Ah, whatever, I'll see it when I do. In any case, I still think it's wrong to fight her, even after seeing it from your standpoint."

"So you'll continue fighting on her side?" Yuri asked cautiously. She didn't like the sound of that, at all. The reason why she even bothered explaining all of those things to the orange-clad ninja was because she believed that he'd join them afterwards. If he still refused to join, then the explanation has no purpose.

"I thought I made it clear when I said I **don't** take sides." Naruto pointed out, somewhat annoyed at being forced to repeat himself. "I just don't want any of you to go killing anyone. And, after what you kindly explained to me, I won't be able to stand by and see you guys kill each other for all the wrong reasons. Keh, hell, I won't be able to forgive myself if that happens."

At that, the people in the room had to make a double-take and exchange confused looks with each other. Even Yuri's eyes were widening at the blonde's choice of words; probably not expecting him to say anything like that. Meanwhile, Otonashi—who had remained silent since Naruto made his entrance—had to stop his urge to face-palm. _'Of course. We haven't told him about that little detail, haven't we? Reminds me of myself when I just got here in the afterlife…'_

"Uh…I don't know if you haven't notice it, but we can't die in this world." Yuri finally said after a long bout of awkward silence. "Well, we can still die, but we'd still be revived later on." She quickly added after seeing Naruto's disbelieving face.

"We…we can't?" Naruto repeated questioningly.

"What do you expect? We **are** in the afterlife, after all. You can't die if you're already dead." Logically, that wouldn't be possible anyway. Even zombies had to be brought back to life to get re-killed. Of course, Naruto had no idea of this at all; but honestly, he should've known better.

Bearing the look of pure idiocy on his face, Naruto found himself being at the receiving end of multiple stares that only served to make him feel more like an idiot. Adding insult to the injury was Kurama, laughing his furry ass out in his cage despite actually being clueless about this fact as well. With the whole predicament he was facing, Naruto had to summon a tremendous amount of self-control not to do any face-palms, face-walls, or face-floors, even though his sense of embarrassment was already ceiling-high.

"A-Ah, so that's how it is…" He started pretty well, if he do say so himself- "DAMNIT! HOW COME NOBODY TOLD ME ABOUT THAT! YOU REALLY JUST **HAD** TO WAIT FOR ME TO ACT LIKE AN IDIOT DON'TCHA?! DAMN BASTARDS, 'TTEBAYO!" Actually, belay that; he didn't cover his reaction that well. So, as any normal person would, he put the blame on the non-existent third party.

Most of the Battlefront members actually snickered at the blond, whose choice of reaction was more humor than any of them expected out of him. Otonashi didn't, though he sweat-dropped all the same. _'Well…not really how I would react back then, but at least he's more accepting than I was. I'm glad it doesn't take a stab to the heart to make him realize that.'_ Otonashi thought solemnly. Yeah, him being skeptical about the whole "not dying" thing in this world rewarded him with a painful (if not quick) stab to the heart from Angel, effectively "killing" him for the first time in the afterlife. Not a pretty way to die, but it was a lot cleaner than his second death (i.e. Noda's "Hundred Deaths" attack).

'_Wait…if he didn't know about this before, then was he REALLY thinking of putting his life on the line just to save Angel?'_ That kind of thought crossed Otonashi's mind. Though it was just a passing thought, he couldn't argue that it made sense. That meant Uzumaki really **was** serious about protecting her. Then again, his apparent will to protect the silver-haired student council president didn't really make much sense. _'I mean, why risk his own life to save someone he barely even know?'_

He thought the blond was strange. Frankly, Otonashi didn't think that it would change in the near future; but he admit that he now find the blond intriguing.

As for Naruto himself, he wished that a certain witch had told him this earlier. At the very least, she could save him from feeling like such an idiot. Sighing, he realized that nothing could change that now, so he cleared his throat and spoke up, "Sorry, that caught me off-guard for a bit. I never thought I can revive in the afterlife." Because seriously, Orochimaru would've died early if he knew about this. "But anyway, I still stand by my word. I won't let anyone hurt anybody, not when I have anything to say about it."

"Exactly **who** do you think you are?" Yuri suddenly shot a question, getting really close to snapping at Naruto's words. "What kind of authority do you think you have over us? Heck, over ANYONE in this world? You talk like you have some kind of power over all of us here; and while I'm sure you have something akin to that, you have no right to stop us from fighting."

Naruto chuckled, "You're right. Perhaps I'm nobody to you guys, and I clearly don't have any right to order you to do anything." He let his light tone drop just a bit, intending to sound serious. "But any kind of nobody wouldn't want to do what you guys are doing. What do you call it, again? Fight against God? Hah! Worst load of bull I've ever heard. You can't fight God; hell, at the ultra-miniscule chance you can, you just **don't**. And believe me when I say even humans are troublesome enough." Like, for instance, an Uchiha that can control the Ten-Tailed Beast of utter destruction.

For some reason, even when Naruto believed he made his reasoning clear enough, the purple-haired girl sitting ahead of him looked…ticked. He could see her glaring at him while gritting her teeth, bearing a visible tick mark on the side of her face. _'What's her problem?'_ he thought to himself.

Yuri pushed herself up from her seat, standing up. Somehow, her normal height began to look intimidating, even seeing it from the distance Naruto had between them. "Listen here…" She started, her voice dangerously bordering with a growl, "Just because you have that strange power…just because you're able to do anything you want with it…don't assume that God was so merciful towards us in our own lives!" Even her words – her menial, normal words – seemed to gain strength, backing it up and hammering at Naruto's conscience. As a result, he was taken aback by the purple-haired girl's words.

"Woah, Yurippe, chill out. You're taking this too seriously." Hideki decided to play peacemaker, seeing the tension that was slowly building up in the room. "Maybe he's just not like the rest of us. That's possible, right? Calm down for a bit."

It might be surprising that Hideki **had** to step up himself and calm their leader down; something that he hasn't done again for quite some time since the making of the SSS. Although none of the newer members knew about this, they were at least surprised when Yuri actually calmed down like he suggested. The girl heaved a sigh, signing that she was already calm. Or, well, at least enough to not throw another temper tantrum.

"Whatever." Yuri said, dropping back to her seat. "We're done talking, for now. I guess we owe you some time to think about it, all things considered. Who knows? Maybe you'll see it our way once you get yourself on the same track as we are." She turned her head to the only silent redhead in the room, "Otonashi-kun, escort him out."

"Eh?" Otonashi let out, snapping out of whatever trance he was in. Once the full impact of Yuri's order got to him, he nodded at her while letting a near inaudible sigh. He walked towards Naruto, beckoning the blond to follow him. He knew he should've feel more surprised when the whisker-marked teen did so accordingly, but judging by the look on his face Naruto wasn't keen on staying for much longer.

As the two exited the principal room, Yuri sighed again. All at once, the attention of the whole Battlefront was averted towards their leader, each with different take on Yuri's impromptu reaction. Takamatsu commented, as he pushed his glasses up his nose again, "That was…unexpected. Quite honestly, it was sort of uncalled for as well."

"Goldilocks was asking for it." Fujimaki stated uncaringly, scoffing as he looked to the side, "He practically mocked our reason to fight, after all. If it wasn't for Yurippe, I would've already sliced him myself."

"GAH! That kid…for him to insult Yurippe like that…! I'll definitely put him in his place the next time we meet!" Noda was obviously annoyed after seeing Yuri upset like that. Truth to be told, if that leader of his (and secret crush) would let him, his halberd would already be sitting on the blonde's jugular.

"Just wiiild heaven, dude." More foreign nonsense from TK, but it was rather befitting for the situation.

"…huh. He's quite interesting, I'll give him that." Hisako, the lead guitarist of Girls Dead Monsters as well as Iwasawa's partner on stage, commented with a subtle smirk. "Where'd you bag him, Iwasawa? Not everyone would stand up to Yuri like that, and turn down our reason for fighting." In response, Iwasawa shrugged at her band's guitarist. She looked at the door curiously, "Actually, I didn't think that he would do something like that at all. He seemed…quite nice when I met him."

Meanwhile, the blue-haired Hinata Hideki busied himself with checking over Yuri, whose outburst concerned him greatly. "Yurippe…what was that back there?" He expected no outright explanation. Heck, he'd prepared himself if Yuri's reason was that she is having her period. He knew her well; at least well enough to know that when something upset her, she would be utterly stubborn **not** to talk about it. Going against the doctor's orders was her specialty.

"I don't know." Yuri simply said, crossing her arms in front of her with a fierce look on her face, "I don't know, but when I hear him talking like that…it really gets on my nerves."

* * *

Once they were out of the room, doors closed, Otonashi heard the blond heave a massive sigh himself. He quirked an eyebrow when Naruto wiped imaginary sweats off his cloth-covered forehead. "Damn, that girl is scary." Was what the blond said after that; which was unexpected since he looked so headstrong back in the room when he faced Yuri. Otonashi concluded that he was just good at hiding his fear.

"Sorry about that. Yuri wasn't always like that, usually." The redhead apologized on behalf of his female leader, knowing full well that the girl herself wouldn't actually want to apologize, judging by her expression before. Of course, while he wasn't anywhere close enough to say that he knew her well – or most of the other members, at that – he was tactful enough to understand Yuri's behavior. And honestly, this apology was probably more about him not being able to say or do anything in the blond's defense (since he was a newcomer like him) rather than it being about the purple-haired Battlefront leader's crude behavior.

Naruto waved his apology off, surprisingly without a trace of being offended on his face, "It's fine. I…guess I kinda deserved it. I admit, I was running my mouth without thinking when I said those things. Although…I still stand by my word; it's just that I think I might have crossed a line or two there."

"You have, probably. I can't say for sure; it's not really my place to agree or say otherwise." Otonashi said.

"Why's that?" Confused, and with curiosity peaked, Naruto asked.

"I'm relatively just a new member here. I just started about three or four days prior from today, or somewhere around those numbers." How much time has passed since he first arrived and met them? The memory truly escaped him, even though it hadn't been that long. And no, it had nothing to do with him being an amnesiac.

"Really? Huh…I guess that's why you seem friendlier than the lot of them." Naruto cocked his head to the side, cracking a tense muscle in his neck. "The guy with the halberd was a beast, literally, and the other guys aren't that deep into niceties with me, either. I guess your leader hates my guts, too. Either that, or she's in her period."

'_Now that you mention it, maybe Yuri __**is**__ in her period after all.'_ Otonashi's thought was probably right. Not that he knew about when Yuri's in her period and when she isn't; it's not something girls talk about.

"*sigh*... Anyway, I owe it to the guy with the blue hair for saving me. He's a lot braver than I gave him credit for, if you look at his appearance." Naruto said, sighing pathetically. He stared at Otonashi for a few more moments. It was discreet, but there was a visible contact between their eyes, though nothing else happened in that time. Eventually, Naruto shook his head before turning around and walked away, waving his hand to Otonashi as a polite farewell. "I'll leave you guys be for the moment. Say my thanks to that buddy of yours; he's a real life-saver."

Replying with an awkward grunt to the message, Otonashi raised his hand slightly to wave back at the leaving blond. He wanted to say something else, but considering he really had no idea what to say he left it at that. Once the blond completely disappears from his line of sight, the redheaded teen let himself sigh.

For the last couple of days, people have been sighing too much in Otonashi's opinion; himself included. Upon realization that most of those sighs were his own, he nearly chuckled at the irony. "Well, it's only fair. I haven't even got used with the Battlefront, and yet more weirdness began to spring up." He didn't know how much further his clear mind can be pushed, but with the extent of craziness thrown at him he was liable to lose it.

Good grief.

Meanwhile, Naruto was having his own thoughts about his earlier exchange with the so-called Afterlife Battlefront. It was true that the talk **did** clear some things up…though not really in the way he would've preferred. He still couldn't grasp the concept of "fighting God". Why, of all things, did that become that battlefront's motivation? Even he knew that fighting the divine is useless; not to mention pointless.

He remembered Yuri saying something about how they all got stuck in this world because of the underlying regret each of them had. Naruto frowned. He was no genius, but he could already connect the dots. Whatever "regret" they had, whatever happened in the living world, they blamed God for it. Ah…he remembered feeling the same way, it was nostalgic.

He couldn't say that he was any different from them, actually. There was once a time that he hated everyone that existed, back when he was a little kid. Most of them were the villagers, and that was because they bullied him to no end. As the villagers grew harsher in their attitudes towards him, he began to hate existence himself. As the pressure became unbearable from then on, he attempted to commit suicide; which he did, but failed as Kurama's healing abilities were so potent even at that time. And when he first woke up in the hospital – with the late Third Hokage sitting next to him – he realized one thing, among others.

He also hated God for giving him that kind of life.

"Heh…" Naruto coughed out a small chuckle, "Now that I think about it, I was being a hypocrite all along." Well, yeah, at least he admitted that he was once like that. But then again, if it weren't for God, he wouldn't be able to meet his friends and comrades. Afterwards, he began to believe that for every single hardships that he goes through, there's always something better in life waiting beyond it.

He wondered if those guys will realize that. _'But…I wonder what happened to them that they turn to hate God so much?'_

* * *

With nothing else better to do, strolling around became the next thing on Naruto's to-do list. So he did. While carefully avoiding his NPC pseudo-friends (he'd hate to have another mental breakdown), the ninja opted to walk around some of the more secluded spots around the school. Well, yeah, it's technically scouting when he think about it, but there are some benefits of doing it!

For instance, he found some things infuriatingly interesting (and strange) when he ended up on top of the school's top-level floor. He could see everything from there; the wide field where he first fought the battlefront – currently occupied by several NPC students – was one of those things. He thought that he saw NPC-Shikamaru running a lap around the fields. That alone reinforced Frederica and Yuri's theory of them not being actual human beings. The real Shikamaru would be too lazy to run a lap; he wouldn't do it even if it keeps him alive.

Oh, and another thing that Naruto figured out when he was up there was the seemingly unending boundaries of this world. Nothing much of a discovery, compared to Shikamaru running a lap. Nevertheless, it was still intriguing. It **looked** like the world was limitless, with the unmeasured space that covered by the clouds like that, but if he think of that "unending boundary" as this world's actual limit… Ugh, he's hurting his head like this, but what he was trying to say is that this world is actually pretty small. Compared to the real world, of course.

Next, he found this strange machine that was at least a head taller than him. The transparent glass covering it revealed that there were some cans drinks and several other snacks inside it. The one that immediately caught his eyes – no, his FULL attention – was the cup ramen with the words "Key Ramen" on it, set atop a small platform with the number 8 on it. Next thing he knew he felt his mouth water in excitement. Hunger as well, since he skipped a meal before.

"*Gulp* Ra-Ramen…" he muttered, "I wonder if I have to buy a coupon or something, like in the cafeteria." He saw a small hole and a few numeric buttons under it, next to the transparent glass. There was a small writing that said "insert coin here". What, so if he put a coin in it, he would be able to ride it like a mechanical pony similar to the ones in Spring Country? Pfft, yeah right. Maybe it was so that he could get whatever's in the machine? If that's the case, then the ramen was totally off-limits for him. He got no cash on him.

Or a wallet, for that matter.

"Oh, well. I guess I'll have to live with not eating ramen from now on…" The optimistic blond turned around and started to walk. He didn't get far before he started freezing in his steps; and if one were to look closely he was actually holding in some tears. "Must…resist…urge…to eat…cup ramen!"

Poor guy. And all he wanted was cup ramen from a vending machine. If only someone was around, perhaps he could convince them to lend him some money, no? Fortunately, someone just **happened** to be in the vicinity. That someone was silent enough to sneak behind the blond and stand there staring at the trembling teen who was not-quite crying.

"What are you doing?" Was what the person asked, using a flat tone yet sounding sincerely confused. And it was a girl, Naruto presumed, judging by the voice.

"Geh!" The presence of a girl suddenly appearing behind him was shocking enough to make his seizure stop. Really, does everyone have to sneak up on him like that? They didn't know that they remind him of ghosts…which he wasn't afraid of, at all! Yeah, he's not afraid of ghosts! Just a little…disgusted...and wary of…

Putting the denial of his personal fears aside, Naruto turned around to face whoever dared to give him a scare. He didn't care if it was a girl (a soft-spoken one, at that), she still deserve a good hit on the head for having little to zero common sense. It's just that when he finally saw that the girl that scared him was clad in a cream-colored blazer, was at least a head shorter than him, and had a curtain of white silvery hair hanging from her head, Naruto's urge to noogie the girl vanished.

He laughed quietly, "What, it's just you? Damn, don't scare me like that. At least state your presence when you're behind someone before asking them something out of the blue."

The girl tilted her head cutely, "Is my presence really that thin?" The blank, dumbfounded look on her face emphasized her cuteness so much that Naruto was sure he'd get diabetes. Or at least broken teeth, like when people ate too much candy.

"You kidding? You're practically a ghost." Naruto stated with no hesitation. His comment on the matter was effective enough to make the short girl look up at him with a speck of realization in her golden eyes. "I see…" she said to herself, "That is very troubling."

It was then the spiky-haired blond had the very first urge to facepalm out of pure disbelief. Who would've thought that _the_ Angel was someone like this? She looked pretty harmless up close, and yet most of the people he met so far were so scared of her. Some people just need to have a Jinchûriki complex, huh? Oh, by the way, a Jinchûriki complex defines to someone whose standing was equal to that of a Jinchûriki and was feared for that reason. To put it in layman terms, it's when people fear you for no apparent reason.

It was pretty popular in his world. Priestess Shion had that complex, and so did several other people. But he was getting out of topic with his thoughts, so back to the matter at hand…

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Naruto asked.

"I'm intending to go back to the girls' dorm, but I was thirsty so I decided to stop by the vending machine." The girl answered monotonously.

Fair enough. Going back to the cafeteria would be too bothersome if she had already gotten out of the school building. Still, what's a vending machine? When Naruto asked her this, she simply asked back, "Why are you asking that? It's that one." Pointing a delicate finger to a spot, Naruto realized that she was referring to the machine that held his sinful desire that is ramen captive.

"THAT'S a vending machine?" Naruto said disbelievingly. He might not be a scholar, but he knew vocabulary for crying out loud. The term "vending" is a verb, which refers to someone – or in this case, something – selling something in exchange for payment. This…this "vending machine" is holding his beloved ramen captive for ransom! It's just plain kidnapping!

"It is." The girl nodded. "It is a vending machine, I mean, not a kidnapper."

"Hmph! Could've fooled me. I can't even take anything from it, so it can't be a vending machine!" Sulking and being childishly denial might not what Naruto usually does, but in this case he was being kept from ramen and it made him cranky. Kinda like a chain smoker being held off from his cigarettes. Kinda like an angry village leader being held off from her saké.

Angel looked stupefied for the shortest moment, looking up at the whiskered blond as if he was an alien. She breathed out something akin to a sigh, but it held little to no annoyance that it looked like she was simply exhaling. "Of course, you can't take anything from it without paying first." Her right hand went into her right blazer pocket, fishing out what appeared to be a coin. She proceeded to insert the coin to the small hole that Naruto had inspected before, metallic noises chiming from inside the machine. "We have to insert the coin here before pushing the numeric buttons here to pick your choice of-"

"CHAAAAANCE!" Brimming with the excitement and spirit of a preschooler, Naruto lunged towards the machine and practically stabbed his index finger to the number 8 on the numeric pad. Angel kept an emotionless face. The cup ramen immediately went down and through a shaft, coming out from a square hole from which Naruto quickly snatched the cup ramen from. "VICTORY! I'VE SAVED RAMEN-HIME, 'TTEBAYO!"

It was obvious that Naruto was **that** hungry, given the way he reacted.

"Ahem." Angel cleared her throat, but it was too soft to be an actual throat-clearing. Nevertheless, Naruto heard her and immediately froze up. _'Uh oh, my ramen addiction has prompted me to steal her food.'_ Was his first thought. Then the more cynical part of his mind came up, and filled his head with false logic, _'Then again, this isn't her food. There's no way she would actually buy cup ramen, so this isn't her food by choice.'_ Research on females showed that they tend to have higher resistance to the temptation of ramen, so they don't buy it frequently.

'_Maybe so… But I still used __**her**__ money to get this cup ramen, rather than letting her get what she wants.'_

'_Oh come on, if you want to be a douche about it, then go ahead and starve to death!'_

'_That leader-girl said that we can't die, though, so is death even viable?'_

With the battle of personal rationality going on, it's going to be hard not to notice the contradicting facial reactions that Naruto was making. It amused Angel enough that she stared at him, unmoving. Eventually, Naruto sighed, wearing a look of defeat on his face. "Uh…I'm sorry about that. I mean, about this." He said, holding up the cup ramen, "It's just that I was very hungry, and I haven't got to eat anything since yesterday. I, uh…kinda got out of control. Anyway, please forgive me! Here," he handed the cup ramen to her, "take it. It's yours."

However, the short girl didn't move her hands up to receive the instant food. Heck, she didn't even make a gesture of any kind, for that matter. She just stared at the taller blond with wide, confused eyes. Moments later, she sighed and closed her eyes, looking like a teacher that caught her student bringing an X-rated DVD to school.

That's not too far off the point. Ramen IS Naruto's sinful desire.

"No, it's okay. You can have it."

"What? Seriously?"

Angel nodded, "It's the least I can do."

'_The least you can do? You practically saved my life here. And what for?'_ Naruto thought. Then, the moments of his heroic act came to his mind, where he went toe-to-toe with a cannonball to protect this girl. "Ah…you mean…"

Again, the girl nodded. Naruto, upon realizing this, had a stupid big smile on his face. Now he got it; she was trying to say "thank you" in her own extremely-subtle way. That…kind of made him glad, even though the lack of other kinds of response made the show of gratitude a little awkward, but still!

"To be honest, it was unnecessary. I was able to react to it even without your help, but since you jumped in anyway, I'll have to thank you."

"Naw, you don't have to thank me. But I guess you're right. Back then, I didn't know that we can't die here, even if we are technically killed. You could say it was just me panicking after seeing that a girl is getting blasted by a cannon right after waking up."

"Ano…it's not like that. It's true that we can't die in this world," the girl paused, wondering why the blond knew that in the first place, "but I have my own ways to react to the attack."

"If it were any other time, I'd be doubtful as hell. But with things going on as it is, skepticism isn't going to get me anywhere." Naruto admitted, sighing disbelievingly at how he had come to just accept things to be illogical as it is. "And how were you going to react to that? That was a freaking cannonball, you know."

"Well…" Angel started hesitantly. She raised her arms halfway up, bending her elbows, and raised her fists in front of her as if she was a boxing champion. "I'm strong."

"Uh huh, and I'm Rokudaime Hokage." So, okay, he said that skepticism isn't going to get him anywhere, but sarcasm is on a whole different level. Naruto is originally a non-sarcasm person; proven when he was dense to people's sarcasms at times. However, with a girl saying that she was strong while in appearance she was frailer than Ino on her diet program, he unconsciously developed the ability to be sarcastic.

Kakashi-sensei would've been proud.

'_Then again, the Battlefront guys were very wary of her. Maybe she's stronger than she looks? I don't doubt that.'_ There were many people with weak looks being strong as hell, back in his world of course. Shikamaru was…well, he didn't look weak, just unmotivated, but he was strong enough to fend for himself. Even Genin like Konohamaru is strong. Apparently, he took out one of the Six Paths of Pain by himself.

While Naruto was quietly reminiscing, Angel had already gone off walking away. He didn't notice that until he snapped out of his trance, after which he turned around and waved cheerfully at the short, delicate-looking girl. "Hey, thanks for the ramen! I promise I'll find a way to make it up to you next time!" he yelled out enthusiastically.

The girl merely turned slightly and nodded at him before continuing her walk.

Naruto grinned happily for himself. "She's a pretty nice girl. Strangely silent, but nice." After that comment that no one heard, the blond turned away in search for hot water dispensers. After that… well, he guessed he's still up for another walk.

But for now, HOT WATER!

* * *

Cup ramen was delicious as always. And Key ramen had a different taste than Ichiraku's, not that he was complaining.

After a while, he got bored of wandering around aimlessly. Yet, he wasn't tired enough to stop under a tree and sleep. With his entire pent up dilemma in his mind, he finally made a decision that he'd never thought of making. He went back to the room where the musical instruments Iwasawa and her friends played was kept, and challenged his old enemy, Stringy the electric guitar, to a rematch.

"I'm back, Stringy." Naruto said coolly as he entered the room, letting his features being outlined by the lights like a complete badass.

"…" Stringy said.

"I know, you didn't expect me to come back. But here I am! After a grueling match against a scary girl and the urge for cup ramen (in which I lost in the latter), Uzumaki Naruto has come to play you, dattebayo!"

"…" Stringy replied.

"No witty comebacks, huh? FINE! I'll start playing you right now! BE PREPARED!" Naruto grabbed the neck of the guitar, fumbling with the strap before successfully hauling it to his left shoulder. "Eehm…let's see. How did Iwasawa did it again? Wire to the amplifier…turn on the button…hey, that rhymed! And, uh…little switch over here?" After completing the final preparations, Naruto grinned and glared down at the guitar in his arms with a mad grin. "Lo and behold, Uzumaki Naruto the guitar player!"

He might have more impact as a dragon slayer, but…yeah.

"Ready…" Naruto raised his hand high in the air, "Set…" His muscles tensed, ready to bring his pinched finger down to strum the strings, "GO!" Like a guillotine, he brought down his hand, strumming with all his might. Only…Stringy proved to be more stubborn than he thought, refusing to make any sound.

"W-What…" Eyes widening in disbelief, Naruto gaped at the guitar. "After all this time…you…you're still this strong?!" Absolute resilience to attacks and will; Stringy is definitely the strongest opponent Naruto had faced since the Juubi.

"Damn it! I'm still not strong enough!" Naruto exclaimed, feeling upset that even with the power of cup ramen he still couldn't play the electric guitar. But exactly, what did he do wrong? He was sure he'd gotten through every step that Iwasawa took in order to play the electric guitar. Where did he go wrong? Is the amplifier broken or something? Nope, he just forgot to connect the power cable to the electric socket.

*cue audience screaming "NOOB!"*

"Aha! So this is what's going on! Hah, smart move Stringy, but it'll take a lot more than that to prevent me from playing you!" To make it clear, it was obvious that an electric guitar can't do a damn thing by itself. The man-child that is Naruto refused to accept that. But never mind that; at least now he knew the problem. So, after he connected the power cable to the socket, he strapped the guitar back to him. "Where was I? Oh yeah! World, prepare to get rocked!"

Once again, Naruto brought down his hand and strummed all the strings in one quick sweep. The result was satisfying; a loud mixture of both high and low frequency sounds resounded in the room. By coincidence, Naruto had been holding the strings in an A chord by the neck of the guitar with his left hand.

"Hell yeah! This is easier than I thought!" Naruto exclaimed, excited. "But this is still far off from actual music… Well, I guess I can't instantly get it all. I wonder if Iwasawa would teach me…" Honestly, though, he wouldn't be so surprised if she **couldn't**. Iwasawa is a nice girl, but being in the opposite side of the faction (so to speak) also meant that they couldn't be as casual as normal people.

"Meh…even if she doesn't teach me, I'm sure I'll find a way to make some music." Naruto shrugged, "Now, if I'm not mistaken, different string-hold makes different kind of noises…" he muttered to himself. Originally, he thought of going elsewhere to cure his boredom, and probably find someplace to stay. But now that he started to get a hang of playing the guitar, he found himself wanting to experiment.

And experiment he did, for a couple of hours. To be frank, his "experimentation" was…just wrong. He had started off with some simple forms of string-holding – and occasionally hitting the chords just right – but he was clearly inexperienced. Some of the chords he used were made up, holding them in ways that he just came up with on the spot. Not to say that he knew what he was using chords, because guitars themselves were foreign to him and his world.

With the strident noises he was creating, it would be hard for anyone near not to notice. That was probably what applied to Iwasawa, who happened to be in the vicinity and heard noises from her music room. She stumbled upon a riffing blond as she came into the room, and to say that she was perplexed was an understatement.

"Figures that I find you here again, Uzumaki." She quipped.

Naruto lifted his head from gazing the guitar in his hands to Iwasawa who stood at the room's entrance. "Iwasawa! Fancy meeting you here!" The girl was carrying some kind of bag on her shoulder, which had a long protrusion going upwards higher than her head. Strange bag, but Naruto wasn't interested enough by the bag as much as Iwasawa's sudden appearance.

The lead vocalist chuckled. She was surprised that Naruto, despite what happened between him and Yuri, was still brimming with exuberance like he is now. Should've expected that, perhaps, seeing how he was the first time she met him. "As fancy as it is, I'll have to ask you, what are you doing in this place again?"

"What else? I'm playing guitar."

"I can see that."

"Then why ask?"

"No reason. Just wanted to see if you're really playing guitar or you're making strange noises on purpose."

"…it's that bad, huh?" Naruto looked downcast, "Shock."

"No, not really. It was pretty good for someone who never touched a guitar before." Iwasawa said, chuckling again. Naruto looked at her skeptically, wondering whether she was telling him the truth or just being sarcastic. Anyway, if that was what she thought, then perhaps he should be grateful…he suppose.

"If you really wanna know, I was just trying to find something to do out of boredom. Then I remembered that I had 'unfinished business' with our little friend over here, who was real stubborn on being silent."

"You mean that electric guitar you tried to use before?"

"Who else? This thing is real tough to play, but when I did it like you showed me it really gives off a nice sound." Naruto suddenly snorted, rolling his eyes, "If this guitar was a girl, I'd already call her a tsundere."

Considering the fact that all Naruto had forgotten to do was to connect the wires, Iwasawa tried to contain her laughter; an effort that was not in vain. "Hmph… That's one way to put it, though it's not always the guitar at fault." She told him. She let out a smiling sigh as she set her bag down to the side and picked up an electric guitar of her own, starting it up like she usually does. "Sometimes it'll sound as good as you want it, other times you never get it right even when you practice until sundown. That's because you're playing it, not **with** it. But when you two play together," she began strumming a few set of chords, creating a metallic screech that was surprisingly melodic. She stopped softly on one chord, letting the sound hang in the air for a bit, "then you'll create a miracle."

"Miracle?" Naruto repeated, not understanding what kind of miracle Iwasawa was speaking of. "I…don't really get it, but isn't this guitar meant to make music?"

"Precisely." Iwasawa said, smiling at the blond. "It creates miracles called music."

Naruto had never looked so thoughtful (for all the brain power he was granted with, he'd short-circuit his mind first before he started thinking so hard), but Iwasawa's words had him thinking. He had never thought of miracles that way before. Originally, he thought that miracles were just events that occur after trying very hard to realize it. The theory coming from Iwasawa is…a nice point of view.

Maybe creating miracles is possible in this world?

"Huh… I guess that's right." Naruto grinned at Iwasawa. "And if miracles can be created like that, I'm sure everyone's gonna be happy!"

"Yeah…"

"Is something wrong?" Naruto asked when Iwasawa's weak response caught his attention.

"No, it's just…" Iwasawa started, her eyes narrowing. She looked angry, but sad at the same time. It was as if she has something to say – preferably hurtful, judging by the look in her eyes – but lacks the needed urge to say it. She sighed momentarily, holding up her forehead in her right palm. "Damn… I'm acting strange, aren't I?"

"Uh…yeah, if you ask me." Naruto agreed hesitantly. "But you look more troubled rather than strange."

"It's that obvious, huh?" she asked, smiling weakly at the blond ninja. The boy in mention frowned slightly, getting confused by Iwasawa's behavior. It's not that it was strange or anything…but perhaps he had gotten used to seeing her in her energetic self rather than this downcast version of her. Frankly, she looks better as her former self. He closed his eyes and sigh, "Look, if you have something you need to say, you better say it. It's not healthy to keep it bottled inside."

"I'm not… I mean, I don't have anything to—"

"Deny it all you want, but you can't hide it from me." Naruto cut her sentence off, silencing her effectively. "I've seen things happen because one guy decided to keep all of his problems to himself." And the things that happened…weren't pretty at all. Who knew one Uchiha bastard of a teammate can cause so much trouble? Shaking the thought of Sasuke out of his head, Naruto continued, "It might make you feel strong for not caving in, but honestly, once you keep yourself shut from others you are weaker than anybody else. Besides, we're friends, aren't we? The least I can do is hear you out."

"But you're the Battlefront's enemy." Iwasawa pointed out, trying her best to give a reason for the blond not to be so concerned about her.

Naruto shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. I never said that I wanted to fight you guys. Regardless, you've never looked at me as one, so I'm not all that convinced."

With how persistent the blond was being, their conversation would last through the day. Iwasawa didn't want that; not only that would interfere with her band practice, but she didn't want the other parts of the band to give the wrong impression to Naruto when they get here. Contributing to that was the fact that Iwasawa **does** feel uneasy, and she didn't want this feeling to last the whole day as well.

'_Perhaps telling him wouldn't be so bad…'_ she thought. After pondering on it for a little while, Iwasawa closed her eyes and nodded to herself. She opened them and looked right at Naruto, "All right, I'll tell you. But please, don't get worked up about it, I'm just trying to clear these thoughts away."

"Oh, don't mind me. Just think of me as a rebounding punching bag." Naruto said, earning him a strange look from Iwasawa. In response, he gave her a cheesy thumbs-up. "Trust me, it works."

"Hm…I guess." Iwasawa sat down on the floor; her bright purple hair waving as her balance shifted. "My other band members are going to come soon, so I think I'll just make it brief."

* * *

_-Flashback-_

"Why is the new song a ballad?" Imposing as ever behind the desk (and still looking pissed after her encounter with Naruto), Yuri inquired. Her mouth was set into a frown behind her interlacing fingers propped in front of her face.

Blinking in surprise, Iwasawa then asked, "Is it bad?"

"For a diversion, yes." And if anything, the sole purpose of the Girls Dead Monster is to divert attentions; particularly the NPCs'. The band is so popular among the model students that the mere mention of their name was enough to bring about an uproar, and it was for that reason that GirlDeMo became so important to the Battlefront.

Newly-recruited Otonashi had no idea whatsoever about the band's purpose, so he raised his hand and voiced his lack of knowledge, "Ano…what do you mean by diversion?"

Yuri proceeded to brief the red-haired amnesiac about the GirlDeMo in general point of view. As stated before, popularity wise, Girls Dead Monster is impossible to ignore; thus why they are crucial to keep the attention of numerous NPCs to themselves while the rest of the Afterlife Battlefront initiate an operation.

So far, the only individual who is impervious to the band's charm is Angel, but considering that she was always emotionless it's hard to tell whether she was affected or not.

"So, no good?" Iwasawa asked Yuri.

"Hmm…" Yuri closed her eyes in thought. While it's true that the new song was great – as are all the other songs Iwasawa created – but the main problem here is it was a ballad. "A ballad is kind of…" No, she doesn't have a deep, underlying hatred towards that one music genre, it's just… "We won't be able to carry out flashy operations if it's that kind of calming sound, right?"

"I see." Half-sighing, Iwasawa said as she sat upon the coffee table between the two sofas. "It's rejected, then."

_-Flashback Ends-_

* * *

"She rejected your song?" Naruto asked disbelievingly. While he tried to maintain a collected composure, he was failing to contain the rise in his voice. He snorted, "Talk about stupidity."

"No, she's right." Iwasawa disagreed, shaking her head slowly. "Yuri always think the best for the Battlefront and that includes what makes their operations successful or not. A ballad won't catch the audience's attention that much compared to the usual rock music. All it'll ever be is a hindrance to the operations."

Naruto sighed. Why do all people have to follow what that purple-haired blockhead wanted to do? He didn't mean to be rude, but wasting Iwasawa's song is plain idiocy; especially because it's Iwasawa! Even he could tell; her songs weren't something to glance witheringly at. "I don't get why you had to…well, **not** use the song. I think it's going to be great, putting aside its apparent uselessness in your 'operations'."

"You think?" the lead vocalist inquired.

"Well, I haven't heard it for myself, so I'll assume it's just as good as your other songs."

"Huh…good to know you're rooting for my songs."

"Meh, it's hard not to when it's nice on the ears." Naruto admitted, shrugging nonchalantly. "To be honest, even if we don't know each other, I'd still think you're a great singer. That's why it's a bit crazy for your song to be rejected."

Iwasawa chuckled good-naturedly at the blonde's statement. She was glad that she had at least someone that accepted her song without hearing it himself. Naruto must've had a lot of faith in her for him to say things like that. And she was thankful; Yuri's rejection hurt (to an extent, but she ignored it for the sake of the Battlefront) even though Iwasawa knew she didn't mean it, and talking to Naruto about it had actually made her feel better.

"You know…" she started, "I think we've misunderstood you for a while now. I don't know why you don't see us as your enemy when we clearly attacked you, but somehow…I'm glad you don't."

"That makes both of us." Naruto responded, grinning slyly at her. "I've said it then, I'll say it again. I don't want to fight any of you guys; not the Battlefront nor Angel. I…I just want to pass on peacefully to the real world." His grin dropped immediately as he began to turn somber. "I had enough of my share of fighting already."

Iwasawa stared silently at the blond ninja. She heard him; or more precisely, she heard his voice. It was somewhat reminiscent to hers, in a way, with how he sounded tired of something. Naruto was mysterious alright, but now she began to wonder about his mysterious past as well. Judging by how he put it, there was a chance that he might have a past similar to hers.

Or worse, similar to Yuri's.

"You don't have to fight if you don't want to. Not all of us get the action time and have the time to generally kick ass." Iwasawa gestured to herself, "I mean, look at me for instance. My band members and I don't do fights, nor are we forced to do it. Sometimes it's just a matter of specialty in the Battlefront."

"You're sounding as if you're trying to pull me back to the Battlefront." Naruto said, rolling his eyes and looking mildly annoyed. _'Then again, I haven't even joined yet.'_

"I'm not." Iwasawa denied, shaking her head. It's fine by her if Naruto didn't want to join; after all, Yuri was the one in charge of recruitment. Even without joining the Battlefront, as long as Naruto isn't hostile to them he's actually safe; both in regards of himself and to the SSS. And he seemed strong; at least enough to hold his own ground should Angel decide to eradicate him or something.

Maybe that was the reason why Yuri was so eager to recruit him, other than the fact that he is also another human. Naruto is strong, yet he held no ill intent towards the Battlefront. The only reason he threatened to fight them was because he had his mind set to protect Angel, who probably was a harmless girl in his eyes. Knowing this, Yuri might have thought that he would be a great ally.

Actually… Iwasawa blinked, momentarily silent in contemplation. "Actually, I don't think I even have to ask you to join."

"What was that?" Naruto asked, eyeing her with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, you know, just by being neutral, you've already become an ally."

"And how is that suppose to make any sense?" Naruto asked again, this time with narrowed eyes. "I said I'm neutral, so doesn't that mean I'm nobody's ally?"

"You say that, but you've come here twice already, and even befriended me." Iwasawa shrugged, "I don't know about you, but you're being too friendly to be **just** a neutral party. It's unavoidable. You're on our side whether you like it or not."

Rendered speechless, Naruto turned away and grumbled about how it was all untrue. Then again, having a nine-tailed fox inside him telling him otherwise would shake his resolve sooner or later. He couldn't say no to Iwasawa's logic, though. No matter how much he denies it, the fact that he'd come to think of Iwasawa as his friend clearly proves that he thought of her as an ally.

It was only a matter of time before that function applies to the other members as well.

Naruto sighed. All of this ally-enemy stuff was putting his mind under a heavy weight. Seriously… But he could sympathize, he suppose. A world with only a single educational facility and no other facilities would bore the hell out of a person. Perhaps this war against God was something that came out of boredom, then? Nah, it couldn't be. The torrential emotion that girl Yuri held in her eyes when she snapped was equivalent to a Tailed-Beast Bomb. Something like that can't be based on simple boredom.

Ah, great, now he's curious about their pasts again.

Sighing again, Naruto put down the electric guitar he was holding and set it to a nearby guitar stand. "It doesn't matter…" he muttered. "In the end, I won't fight in the name of either of the two battling factions. I'm smart enough to tell that things won't end up nicely once I pick sides."

"I understand." Iwasawa concurred, nodding slightly. "But you know…boys are always like that."

"…is that sexism I hear?" Naruto asked, pouting at the end of his sentence. His sulking tone made Iwasawa laugh out; probably she found it amusing to hear him like that. "No, nothing like that. I mean, when boys say that they won't do something, they'll usually do it anyway."

"Doesn't that law apply to girls only?"

"Not in my book."

"You're impossible." Naruto grumbled, sighing. Iwasawa laughed again, though this time she tried to hold in her laughter. Of course, it epically failed. And laughter is infectious, so eventually Naruto ended up laughing as well. After a while, their laughter both died down, slowing to mere chuckles. Tired, but somehow relieved to release all the pent up stress with that laugh, Naruto stood up and smiled. "Well, I'll be off then. I don't want to disturb you or anything. You…have something to do here, don't you?"

Iwasawa nodded, once again letting her elongated bangs bob up and down in process. "Yeah, band practice. The others are coming here, though now I'm wondering what's taking them so long."

"Really? Well, good luck in your practice, I guess. Not that I think you'll need it…" Naruto walked off towards the only doorway in the room, but stopped and perked up as he remembered one thing. "Ah! I almost forgot. Ne, Iwasawa, you should let me hear that new song of yours sometime!"

Hearing the request – or rather, the reminder – made Iwasawa blink momentarily, surprised by its sudden upbringing. She recovered quickly and shot him a smirk, "You're right, I should. Oh, I wanted to let you know that we're holding a concert tomorrow night. You're welcome to come if you want, so don't be a stranger."

"You bet, dattebayo!" Naruto grinned (the one and only Uzumaki-patented 1000 watts Naruto grin). "See ya, Iwasawa!" he said in farewell.

"Masami." Her voice stopped him from going further out; instead, making him turn back around and look at her questioningly. "Huh?" the oblivious blond let out.

"Iwasawa Masami." She said, smiling. "That's my full name." What prompted her to give her full-name introduction now of all times, she didn't know; but there was the underlying feeling of owing since Naruto already gave her his full name.

"Ah, I see." Naruto let out in realization, before once again grinning at the red-eyed vocalist. "Well then, see ya, Masami-chan!" Bad habit dies hard; and in Naruto's case, it's the habit of giving the affectionate "-chan" suffix to every cute girls (according to him) he met.

The way he called her almost made her trip on one of the microphone cables. When she got her stance right back up, he was already gone from the doorway. No more figure blocked the afternoon sunlight coming in through the door, creating human-shaped shadows; just its soothing ray shining through. Yet, the lack of exuberant presence left such a hole in the music room's atmosphere. It was so noticeable that Iwasawa let out a long, drawn out breath.

"Geez…guess who's playing the longing princess role now?" She dropped her eyesight to the floor and chuckled. That was a rhetorical question; she didn't to get an answer. Yet, she did.

"That would be very obvious." Said the female voice, once again coming from the doorway. Iwasawa raised her head, coming eye to eye with her band's lead guitarist. "Hisako?" Iwasawa called inquiringly, though it was already pretty obvious who was standing there. She didn't really need to ask it. "Wow, you're here early. Didn't expect you to come here this quick…" As she said this, she saw Sekine and Irie standing behind Hisako's back. "…along with the others, too?"

"Well, we didn't have anything else to do. We weren't even hungry, so the cafeteria wasn't that preferable." Hisako said, shrugging. "So I decided that we should mimic you and be dedicated band members ourselves."

"I'm no different than you guys, you know." Which was a false fact, of course. In truth, every time GirlDeMo scheduled a practice, it was nigh impossible to not see the face of Iwasawa Masami as the first one to show up in the music room. Hisako sighed; her best friend is really focused sometimes, but she needed to let go of her anti-social traits and slack off once in a while.

"Well, whatever. We're here, so let's start practicing." Hisako might not be the best motivators around, but she was respected enough to have others comply with her demands; this one being one of them. "Oh, by the way, I think it's a right decision to come right away."

"And why's that?"

"Well, we got a glimpse of Uzumaki going out from this room, for one. Second interesting thing is that he walked on air when he did."

"…come again?" Iwasawa asked politely.

Sekine beat Hisako to the punch, answering with the excitement of a ten-year old that'd seen Gundam firsthand, "You should've seen it, Iwasawa-san! He was like, jumping off from the railing and looked so bored despite jumping from third story. And then he…well, to put it simply, air-walked away! It was so coooool!"

'_Great, Naruto's got a fan now and he doesn't even realize it.'_ Iwasawa thought. _'But...air-walking? He surely has more tricks than his looks let on.'_

Hisako turned to Iwasawa, looking at her seriously, "What was he doing here?"

"He tried to play the guitars, apparently. He must've been here for a while." Iwasawa answered, closing her eyes and exhaling. "He wasn't half bad. His chord grip was messy, but his strokes were strong."

"Are you seriously reviewing his guitar play?" Hisako asked. Iwasawa's indifferent look that she had while giving her comment about Naruto's guitar play was enough to make the ponytailed guitarist sweat-drop. Giving her head a slight shake, Hisako threw the useless curiosity aside and focused to the matter at hand. "Well, whatever. We're all here now, so let's start the band practice, shall we?"

"You're right." Iwasawa picked up her electric guitar, slinging its strap across her shoulder. "Well, get your instruments heated girls. If my guts are right, Yuri's upcoming operation is going to need a good show."

Sekine and Irie, both being adolescents of the younger age, hurriedly scrambled to their designated positions. While the blonde Sekine grabbed hold of the bass guitar, Irie made herself comfortable on her seat behind her drum set. Meanwhile, Hisako trudged calmly to Iwasawa's left flank, taking an electric guitar into her possession. As the lead guitarist, she was almost always reserved and focused.

Iwasawa didn't have to do anything as she already had her guitar slung around her. However, as she adjusted the microphone in front of her, she couldn't help but let her mind wander off. She thought about many things, actually. For instance, she was getting anxious about the concert that is going to be held tomorrow night. It was part of Yuri's operation, known as 'Angel Area Invasion Plan'.

With the contents of the plan being plainly obvious thanks to the name, Iwasawa knew that the Girls Dead Monster had an important part in this operation. It was all up to them to create a large enough commotion to distract as much NPCs as they can and deviate attention from Yuri and the select few that she will take along with her in her infiltration group. Though, at the same time, Iwasawa was determined to make not only a good distraction, but a good concert as well.

No… She wanted it to be great.

And to top it all off, Naruto promised to be there as well. She didn't know if that meant anything – both to her and to him – but she felt that she needed to give it her all just because the happy blond was going to be there. Unneeded worry then came over her, and she became doubtful of herself. _'Can I really do it?'_ she thought, tuning out the sounds of her band mates checking over their equipments. Mentally, she gave herself a slap on the back to wake herself up. _'No. There won't be anything good coming from thinking about it too much. I don't have to think whether I can or cannot; I'll just do it.'_

"Ready?" the lead vocalist asked to the rest, gaining approving nods and hums from them. She smiled, "Hit it!"

* * *

_The next day…_

* * *

It was evening. The time was 18.00.

Without the usual ring of an alarm clock, Naruto could avoid waking up with a nasty migraine like he usually did, but that also messed up his body clock. Strange thing is, in his old world, he'd woken up early in the morning more often than not, even without alarm clocks blaring in his ears.

Oh, but before we talk about that, let's ask why Naruto was even in a room in the first place. Amidst his wandering around yesterday, he came upon the boys' dorm by accident. Now, I'm sure you know that Naruto is very much capable of sleeping in the woods for all he cared, as long as he has ramen with him. That was the underlying problem; he got no ramen with him. The one that Angel gave him was gone already, to his stomach.

Conveniently, he found out that the dorm actually had an inner cafeteria, and it sold ramen for free. Yes, FREE RAMEN! Finally, something good in this otherwise abnormal world. Initially, all he wanted was to come in and eat free ramen in the cafeteria, but his plan went down the drain when the front office manager came up to him and dragged him to a room.

Ah…no, not to do **those** kinds of things. The innuendo was unintended.

The manager, to his shock, was an NPC-Tsunade. She gave him a room key, telling him that this room was his. Suspecting that this was once again a case of misunderstanding like the one his homeroom teacher had, he rejected. That granted him a good jab to the forehead. And from the impact, the blond could surmise that NPC-Tsunade had equal strength to the real Tsunade. He didn't know how that was possible, but he shrugged the mystery off and begrudgingly accepted the room key.

And so, here he is.

Fortunately, he also got the ramen.

"Urgh…" he groaned, "Talk about hangover." Actually, it was more of exhaustion than a hangover. He hadn't rested properly ever since he arrived in this world; his preemptive coma didn't count. He got out of his bed, went to the bathroom and washed his face to clear his thoughts. When he walked out of the bathroom, he took a glance at his alarm clock.

18.15, it read. He grinned, _'Still enough time until Masami's concert, I suppose. I guess I'll get some ramen before going out.'_

Minutes passed unknowingly, and time seemingly fast-forwarded to 18.43 in a blink of an eye. Next thing Naruto knew, he was lightly running out of the dormitories, with no concrete idea about where he was supposed to go. "Damn...I forgot to ask her where her concert is going to be held." Naruto muttered to himself as he ran about aimlessly. "Then again, she didn't tell me. I'm not completely at fault then." Well, that still won't solve his current problem.

"I probably should ask some of the students...hm?" His steady stride came to a halt when he saw something eye-catching plastered to a wall nearby him. A poster, it seemed, with the words "Girls Dead Monster" being written in pink on it, as well as a background theme of four female silhouettes. He suspected that the pink words were the band's logo, so he assumed that it was a poster of the band concert. As expected, he saw several names also printed in white near the band logo; Iwasawa, Hisako, Sekine and Irie. He didn't recognize the other three, but that must be the other members.

"19.00, tonight… Where the hell is the sports hall?" He wondered aloud. He would ask for directions, but once again there was no one around to ask. That is, until his sharp eyes caught the sight of a flicker of pink running about, disappearing behind a pillar of some sorts. He frowned, confused.

'_That's…not Sakura-chan. I don't remember her hair being that long, nor was her NPC counterpart's.'_ He thought.

He chased after whoever that was. As he got closer to the pillar, he saw that the person was still behind it. Slowing down to a walk, Naruto's eyes widened when the girl came into view completely.

Now he was absolutely sure that she wasn't Sakura. To start with, she was a diminutive-looking girl who had the looks of a bratty kid; nowhere near Sakura's level of height. And her pink hair…damn, it was longer than he thought. It reached her lower back, and that was with little bits of it being bound into two small pigtails with red ribbons. Her clothing was the same uniform as the ones that the girls from SSS wore; and sure enough, there was an imprint of the SSS logo on her left sleeve. Only, the uniform she's wearing was probably downsized a couple of times, as it looked too small on her. Her stomach was showing under the top's end, which was too short. The skirt was…well, it was short on the other girls, so he wasn't that surprised. The devil tail accessory tied to the back of it did catch his eyes, though.

Her face was…unique. As said beforehand, her pink hair was very long; the fringes nearly covered her deep pink (near red, actually) eyes. She had a round face, and dare he say it she was kind of cute in a non-attracted point of view. She looked to be as young as – if not younger than – Konohamaru. Which made him wonder, what was a kid like her doing here?

The girl had her eyes widening in surprise, and her jump of fright was perhaps an overreaction but Naruto would've done the same had someone appeared at his side so suddenly. Oh wait, he already did (the meeting with Angel). "UWAAA! A stranger appeared!"

"I could've said the same to you." Naruto countered. "But, yeah, I guess I'm a stranger."

The girl stopped her frantic reaction a bit and peered curiously at him. For a while, it looked like she wasn't going to end her stare, until she spoke up again with a little lisp in her voice – probably caused by that little fang of hers jotting out from upper lip, "Ah…so it's just you."

'_So…I'm __**not**__ a stranger now? Make up your mind, kid!'_ Naruto thought, covering his annoyed expression with a friendlier one. "You know me?"

"Yeah! You see, my seniors have been talking about you a lot! My senpai who brought an axe with him all the time told me that you're a person that likes to kick peoples' balls for no apparent reason." The girl said, her hands making a motion in the air as if outlining a real axe for effect.

An axe-wielding bastard who spouts lies? Why does that sound so familiar? Naruto blinked when an annoying face with squinty eyes and messy purple hair resurfaced from his memory bank, and he scowled. "What? That bastard… Didn't he tell you that he was the one who kicked my balls first?"

"EEEH?! S-So he likes to kick balls too?!"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY 'TOO'?!" Naruto responded angrily, not liking how the girl still looks at him as a walking testicle-kicker. He blamed Noda for that, planting false impression of him on an innocent-looking girl like her. Truthfully, that's just wrong. The taller teen sighed and closed his eyes. "Well, forget about that. Um…by the way, are you the one who placed all these posters?" Naruto asked, having noticed how crowded the walls around him were with the GirlDeMo concert posters filling them up.

"Ah, hai! I was told to give out the announcement about Iwasawa-san and the others' concert." The girl suddenly brought her hands together and squealed, "Kyaaa, I'm so excited! This is the first time the Girls Dead Monster ever played in an announced event!" Again, all of the sudden the girl made a sudden move; this time her eyes were wide open and her face was practically brimming with excitement. "Ah, do you know about Girls Dead Monster? Maybe you know them more by their acronym, GirlDeMo, since the model students usually calls them like that."

Let it be stated again; the girl was practically brimming with excitement. In fact, it was shining with so much delight Naruto could mistake her for a 200-watt light bulb. _'Talk about idolism…'_ he thought to himself. Even when he was thinking, the girl was still letting her mouth run endlessly, talking about her beloved band on and on. To stop her rant, Naruto cleared his throat. "Ahem! Well, yeah, I do know them. In fact, you could say that I'm on good terms with one of the members."

"Really? Who?" The pink-haired girl immediately asked.

Naruto pinched his chin and looked up in thought, "I guess, since it's her last name that's printed in the poster, you guys call her Iwasawa? I call her Masami-chan, though."

"EEEH?! Are you serious?!" The superbly-energetic girl suddenly leaped up in surprise. "You mean, **that** Iwasawa-senpai? The GirlDeMo's legendary lead vocalist?!"

"Eh? Legendary? Er, yeah, I guess." Her voice was amazing enough to let her be called "legendary", even he had to admit that.

"That's so COOL!" The girl's exclaimed. She looked up at him in wonder, her eyes sparkling with what Naruto could only depict as pure amazement. The blond chuckled at the young girl's behavior. This girl…she's something else. "Hey, you said that you're the one who placed the posters. So are you by any chance related to the band?"

The girl nodded happily, "Yes. I'm still an underling, compared to the others, but I'm still happy that I get to work with the Girls Dead Monster." There wasn't any trace of false expression in her words, which meant that she meant what she said. "Ah, by the way, I'm Yui!"

"Yu…i?" Naruto repeated slowly, his face scrunched up in confusion. The girl noticed this, and voiced her concern, "Is something wrong?"

Naruto didn't quite get it at first. Then he realized with a start that she was introducing herself. "A-Ah, you mean that's your name? Gomen, gomen, I just didn't expect you to give me your given name right away."

"Ah, is that so?"

"Don't get me wrong, I prefer it that way, so it's cool. I'm not into formalities anyway."

"Neither am I." Yui said, giving him a wide smile. "But, but, are you really friends with Iwasawa-senpai?"

"Of course! What, you think I'm lying or something?" Naruto asked, feeling slightly misjudged.

"No, no, nothing like that! It's just that…it's kind of hard to imagine, that's all."

"Huh…" Naruto eyed the pink-haired girl, wondering what's so hard to imagine. Befriending Masami was the easiest thing next to transformation jutsu; he knew that from experience. He shrugged the short girl's skepticism and let himself smile widely, "Oh well, you'll see later. By the way, name's Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto."

"The ramen topping?" Yui asked innocently.

"N-NO!" He refused to be referred to as a fishcake for a ramen topping, no matter how heavenly tasty ramen is! But…he heard that Jiraiya came up with the name while he was eating ramen, so perhaps he **should** be referred as a fishcake?

"Well, never mind that! I'm nearly late to see the concert! And I still haven't figured out where the sports hall is…"

"Ara, the sports hall? It's that one." She said, pointing to a large – scratch that, humongous sounds more befitting – building that had a curved roof facing earthward. The blond wondered how he could miss a building that large, and came up with zero result upon reflection. He blamed his own idiocy.

"Ah, that one? Alright, thanks! I can't believe I missed that." He looked up at the building. "But, damn…it's pretty huge."

"Of course! It's where the Girls Dead Monster is supposed to hold the concert after all, so we have to think about how much audience there will be." Yui commented.

"Heh…damn right." Naruto smirked at the image of hundreds of people coming to see the Girls Dead Monster, waving their hands wildly at the show the band will make. He shook his head, "Thanks again, Yui! I'll see you at the show, then!" he said as he ran off towards the sports hall.

"You bet you will, bastard!"

Hearing the last call, Naruto skipped a beat in his step (well, he almost tripped in a literal sense), but resumed his running later on. _'Damn…spunk AND colorful language? This place is full of strange people…'_

* * *

_Later on…_

* * *

It was minutes until the start of the concert. Using these precious time left, the members of the Afterlife Battlefront quickly checked over their equipments and went over their preparations to initiate 'Angel Area Invasion Plan'. Normally, they'd do the operation with maximum effort and go home empty-handed since they couldn't get through Angel's password no matter what they do. Yuri blamed their idiocy. But this time, it was going to be different. Yuri had reeled in the genius super-hacker, Takeyama, to help her crack the code for Angel's database. With a handle name like "Christ" (though nobody ever cared to call him as that), his hacking skills is second to none.

"Yurippe, we're good to go." Called out one Hinata Hideki as he loaded his gun.

"Same here." Noda piped up. The others just gave their leader a nod of approval, signing that they too had finished their preparations. Although, Otonashi did remain clueless about the whole operation, which was why he remained silent and just looked stoically at Yuri. He was still skeptic about what they were trying to do, invading Angel's place and all. Judging by the way the other members described it, his head already conjured up freaky, sci-fi sounding places as guesses of what this 'Angel Area' was supposed to look like. To be frank, they were too surreal.

'_I guess I have no choice but to tag along and see how it will turn out.'_ Giving up on thinking about it altogether, Otonashi shrugged mentally and looked on as Yuri went over her own preparation. She was nearly finished reading on what seemed to be a blueprint; probably one considering 'Angel Area'. He saw her nod to herself before raising her head to give her members a confident smirk.

"All right! We're all set. Now we'll just have to wait until Iwasawa-san and the others start their concert. Once they've driven the NPCs away from us, we'll start moving." The girl's eyes stared at the ground as she began pacing back and forth. "Unfortunately, I don't know how much Angel is going to be affected by the concert. We'll have to count on the girls to put on a superb show."

"What are we going to do once we get to Angel's place? Or, more precisely, how?" Matsushita 5th Dan inquired.

"Like I said, we'll have to wait until all the NPCs are away from the girls' dorm before we mobilize our team. We'll invade like how we did last time, seeing as that method didn't fail us in the slightest."

"I understand. I guess I better pack light then." The big teen said as he put back the bazooka he was holding.

"You were thinking of bringing that bazooka, weren't you?!" Otonashi accused, baffled.

Unfazed by Otonashi's outburst, the other members turned to Yuri who had stopped her pacing and faced them with a steely resolve. "We can do this, people! Unlike last time, we'll dig out every bits of information there is regarding Angel's powers. We won't go back without that precious information!"

"And I'm being ignored here…" Otonashi muttered to himself.

All members present either nodded or grunted in approval, different expressions on their faces. One thing's for sure, though, they were ready to do what they do best; conducting a rebellion act against God. With the exception of Otonashi who had an unsure look on his face, and maybe Ooyama who looked scared and nervous.

"_*bzzt* This is Yusa. The Girls Dead Monster is starting their concert in T minus 20 seconds."_ A girl's voice came through the earpiece Yuri wore in her ear. Pressing the earpiece, Yuri then replied, "Roger that. We'll be moving shortly. Keep an eye out for Angel over there."

"_Acknowledged. Over and out."_ The girl's voice died out after the last message. Yuri smiled, taking in a deep breath and declared, "Operation…START!"

**-End of Chapter 3-**

**-xo-**

BOOOYAH! Another chapter down! *gets pelted with a banana peel* Ugh…alright, alright, I get it. I spent too much time working on it that I haven't updated for so long. Now that I mention it, I haven't updated my other stories as well. *sigh*

"You suck, SpinLord!"

Yeah, I- HEY! Who said that?!

Naruto: *pops out suddenly* I DID! You left the story for so long I thought you abandoned it! Damn it, and just when things were getting exciting, too!

Me: In my defense, my school is a bast—

Naruto: Man, screw that excuse! An author does not and WILL NOT bend to the will of school! Where's your will? Where's that 'author oath' you uphold so much?!

Me: But I didn't uphold anything!

Naruto: Bullshit! Now, get down and give me twenty!

So, yeah, I'll continue writing this AN while doing twenty push-ups. So you see, ugh, I've been in a field trip for the last five days. Ugh, three… Gah! Not exactly a field trip, though. It's more of a semi-military training trip. Ten—ooph!

Naruto: Is that the best you can do? I've seen Shikamaru do better!

Stupid whiskers… Anyway, I once again apologize for the late update once again. Writer's block has been conjuring up everywhere, and I've been relaxing my mind for quite some time to regain my imagination prowess. To my full displeasure, all I got was more rifle-carrying plot bunnies, threatening me to make other stories. Not to worry, though, I've rejected their order to finish this one first. I guess I'll be focusing on this story and "Unity of Two Worlds", assuming I can do both simultaneously. Grrrhh…TWENTY! Hah, hah, how's that, Goldilocks?

Naruto: Hmph…you better start this story quickly next time. And next time, there won't BE another next time!

Me: Sir, yes sir! Pfft…look at me, getting ordered around by a 2-dimensional character…

Trivia Time!

»Yuri sure is being aggressive towards Naruto. I myself can't tell the reason why I write her as so, but I surmise to the blond touching a nerve in Yuri's head unconsciously. I mean, he's a guy who got a second chance from God, so he's in the exact opposite position to Yuri who didn't even get a chance to…well, you know what, just watch the series if you don't know.

»Naruto can converse freely with Angel (Kanade) because he'd already look at her as a harmless person. And she's not all that bothered, either. He saved her life, she gave him ramen in exchange; to sum it all up, they're on good terms with each other. Of course, I deny making it a Naruto x Kanade for my own reasons.

»Iwasawa is another person that Naruto can talk easily with. She's a pretty open person originally, so Naruto had no problem befriending her. Not to mention Naruto's interest in guitars, which instantly linked him with the lead vocalist. Again, I deny making it a Naruto x Iwasawa.

»I haven't got the time or the skill to fully describe how the world of afterlife actually looked like. I can't describe it easily, probably because English isn't my first language. So, if there's anything wrong in my depiction, please forgive me.

»Writing Otonashi is quite hard. I had to picture his sarcasm, slight cynicism and well-timed humor trait to not make this story so heavyweight. I got a complaint saying that I'm putting too much weight on a lightweight story such as Angel Beats. *sigh* I sure hope I get a hang of it soon.

»No appearance of Umineko's witches for today! I'll be saving it for the next chapter since I'm so damn lazy, hehehe.

-Next Chapter-

"Let's do this."

"They're…really good!"

"This is just a normal girl's room!"

"What the hell is going on here?!"

"Back off. This is their concert!"

"Guard Skill: Hand Sonic."

"**[Red] I won't let you ruin…THE MIRACLE SHE CREATED! [Red]"**

"This is…her song."


	5. Chapter 4: Iwasawa's Song

/AN/: YOOOSH, it's chapter 4! Hrm...darn it, I think it's gonna be hard writing this chapter. I don't know what got into me when I left chapter 3 with that kind of -Next Chapter- preview. *Sigh* Now, how am I supposed to write it down...? Oh, I know! Let the magic do its work!

Speaking of magic, I have one magician that will read this chapter's disclaimer. Well, she's a witch more than a magician...hey, isn't she a saint in this story? Bah, whatever. Let's see...*reads long list* Yup, it's really her. Ladies and gentlereaders! I present to you, Bernkastel!

Bern: …

Me: …uh, Bern, you gotta give a reaction at least.

Bern: Is this something akin to a joke? Why am I brought here?

Me: Why, to read a disclaimer, of course! Isn't that particularly obvious already?

Bern: That's why I'm asking you… *fear mode activate* **why did you bring me here for something as meaningless as this?**

Me: Geh… W-Well, it's just that you're next on the disclaimer's list, an-and you're a great character and all, s-so I thought it'd be great if y-you read it. It m-might reel in more viewers…

Bern: Hm… I don't see how viewers will be interested more if I read it, but I'll see if your prediction is really true.

Me: *mutters* Talk about an indecisive saint…

Bern: Then, I'll disclaim your story to prevent unneeded controversy from the real owners. To ensure the validity, I'll put in the red truth.

**Disclaimer: [Red] SpinLord does not own Naruto, and nor does he owns Angel Beats. Both franchises are too far out of his reach, and therefore it is impossible for him to own them. That is the truth. [Red]**

Me: *mutters* You didn't have to add salt to my injury. Not to mention putting it in red…

**-xo-**

**Soundtrack listing:** _Marina – __Alchemy_ ; _Marina – __My Song_

**-Chapter 4-**

The Song of Iwasawa Masami

Frederica's Realm

At that time, when all things were proceeding quite peacefully in the world known as the Afterlife, a conflict was imminent. No one knew this, because none were able to witness such an event.

The battle was between the "Witch of Certainty" Lambdadelta and the current "Saint of Time and Space", former "Witch of Miracles" Frederica Bernkastel. And in this battle, they decided to pull out their stops.

A battle on that level should've had a tremendously dangerous effect on the multiverse. Frederica knew this beforehand and projected a massive barrier to surround her and Lambdadelta, intending to prevent their witchcraft from affecting any of the worlds. The barrier was one that would be able to hold off even her own power, which was currently higher than Lambdadelta.

However, the fight had dragged on far too long.

It didn't matter how much they use magic. No matter how much spears and tantrums Lambdadelta shot towards Frederica, the saint would only use her scythe to tear the fabric of reality and send Lambda's attack to another dimension. Their fighting skills were as opposed as their magical elements.

"…This is getting nowhere." Frederica finally said. Her deep blue hair swayed back and forth as she balanced her big scythe on both arms. Her black cardigan was torn all over after taking damage from Lambdadelta's attacks.

Lambdadelta merely laughed at the remark, sounding pleased. "You have a point there, Bern. With how things are progressing, we will only tire ourselves out from fighting so long. I have to admit, your saint powers are really powerful." She herself had taken substantial attacks head on, though it didn't seem like she was affected. Her pink dress had tears all over.

"As are yours, my friend," The saint let her scythe dispel in an array of blue wisps as she had no reason to use it anymore. "Now you understand that you cannot lay a hand on that world as long as I'm here to stop you."

"Aw, that's mean, Bern~! All I wanted was to play with you and you're already so riled up!" the blonde witch of certainty whined childishly. Pouting incessantly like the child she seem to be, Lambda looked away with a dissatisfied look. She grumbled something incoherent before her eyes lit up and widened, her head then turned back to look at Frederica and smile widely. "Hey, Bern, I got an idea! Let's try a different way to fight!"

"A different way…you say?" Frederica said in confusion.

"Hm! We've been fighting with our personal magic for far too long now. Even when we've put all we got into it, none of us seemed to be winning. And you know, if you really want to protect all these worlds, you shouldn't clash your miracle magic with my certainty magic too much."

Certainty and miracles are two very different things. They counteract each other too much, and when someone clashes magic imbued with those two elements respectively a contradictory will occur, resulting in the damage of reality itself.

"…I usually wouldn't do this, but I agree with you," Frederica admitted. She didn't want to make any damage – no matter how miniscule – to the multiverse. If she continues to clash magic with Lambdadelta, the effects will be off the scale. Even her barrier wouldn't last long enough to contain the effects once she exhausts her energy. "However, I will have to inquire what method you suggest with fight with."

"I actually have an idea," Lambda answered cheerfully. "How about we fight, say, like in **that** game?"

"…" Frowning, the blue-haired saint stared at her friend/opponent expressionlessly. "What are you proposing?"

"Weeeell, if you don't mind, I'm thinking of borrowing the world your precious client was sent off to for our board." The blonde witch then smirked playfully, "Of course, I don't take no for an answer."

"I thought I told you that I don't intend to turn that world into something like Rokkenjima." Frederica interjected coldly. Her expression didn't change as Lambda broke out in laughter, possibly since she didn't find it amusing.

"So you rather we fight and have the possibility of endangering all the worlds than playing on one world with little to no risks at all?"

Frederica gritted her teeth. "Are you certain that the effects won't be disturbing the world?" She will hate herself for this, she knew, but she can't risk the other worlds for the sake of a single world. Even though that single world is where Naruto currently resides, she…

"Aw, come on, have some more faith in me! I'm not the uncontrollable magic core that I was when I was still an apprentice." Lambda once again whined.

'_Long on faith, short on trust. It's more to the fact that I don't trust you enough to entrust this world's safety to you.'_ Frederica glanced at the Orb of Time that represented the world «universal code: Angel Beats» and gave it an unsure look. After a moment, though, she decided that she would concur with Lambdadelta's suggestion.

All she had to do is to win against her and ensure that the witch doesn't damage the world in any way.

"State your terms, Lambdadelta."

* * *

When Naruto arrived at the sports hall, there were already several people who arrived earlier than him. He looked around curiously, wondering why no one had gotten concert-crazy while holding cardboards with graffiti on it. It took him some moments to realize that the Girls Dead Monster hadn't even started playing yet, to which he sighed in relief. "Phew, looks like I made it in time."

To add to his relief, the NPC Konoha Eleven wasn't there. And for once, his conscience hoped that they wouldn't be there, for his own sake.

People were milling about, but none were familiar to him. Fat chance at that; they're all NPCs, after all. Naruto decided to wander around the hall and kill time by admiring its large empty space. Unfortunately, that got old very quickly.

"…isn't there a ramen stand around here?" He kind of missed Ichiraku Ramen already. The reliable ramen stand was always there when he was hungry or bored.

He wondered where the band members were. Judging by the time, they should've started already. His eyes found themselves staring at a lone clock that just happened to be stuck on a nearby wall. 18.58? For crying out loud, would it kill them to start the concert two minutes early?! The anticipation is killing him! Ah…but with how this world works, it wouldn't matter if he dies, since he'd be revived anyway.

'_Aw, look at me, now I'm beginning to think that death isn't all that scary.'_ He thought pathetically to himself. Was his moral so damaged that he no longer fear Shinigami?

"**Correct me if I'm wrong, brat, but I think that's actually a good thing." **A grisly booming voice said inside his mind.

'_Kurama, huh? Been quite a while since I last heard your old voice. But honestly, though, does your first appearance after a long time had to be one where you contradict what I say? Seriously, I think your whole life is dedicated to prove me wrong no matter what I do.'_

"**Good day to you too, brat. And, just to answer your curiosity, contradicting you is for my own entertainment."** The fox grinned at the blond through the bars of his cage, satisfied with his answer. His Jinchuriki, meanwhile, sighed at the ancient demon's behavior.

'_Well, never mind that. I can tell from experience that whenever you pop up in my head, something important is going down. You'd never waste your time just to say a periodical "hi" to me.'_ Naruto thought, voicing his prediction to his Bijuu. The nine-tailed fox gave a short bark of laugh. **"You know me too well, brat. You're right, I've found some curious pieces of information."**

'_Courtesy of Rika-chan?'_

"**Unfortunately, no; though I've been wondering why she hasn't shown up recently. She must be busy."** Kurama shrugged his shoulders. **"Either way, she wasn't with us when I figured things out."**

Naruto hummed to himself in response, getting a little curious about what Kurama said about Frederica. He shrugged momentarily; Frederica could be as busy as she has to. It's not her duty to keep him safe or to check on him periodically. If she wasn't here for some reason, he wouldn't blame her. _'Oh well, I guess it can't be helped. Never mind that, what about the thing you found out?'_

"**I've been examining your newly-acquired power. Reiryoku… Whatever it is, the fact that it could function so well in your body is surprising, considering it is power from another universe."**

'_Well, Rika-chan did say that it's a type of power that works when you're dead. Spiritual power, right?'_

"**Right. I still remember what she said about that. Starting from there, I concluded that the reason why it's so compatible with your body is because your body is already familiar with that kind of energy."**

'_What do you mean?'_

"**Chakra has been your body's power source since the longest you can remember right? I don't think I have to remind you this, but chakra is an amalgam of physical and spiritual energy generated from inside. When a human dies, physical energy dissipates as the body can no longer contain any type of energy, thus breaking the perfect synchronization that created chakra."** Kurama's red eyes seemed to glint in interest. Naruto noticed the fox smirking in an arrogant fashion. **"When that happens, what do you think will happen to the spiritual energy?"**

Now that the Tailed Beast mentioned it, it got Naruto thinking. That's right, what will? Separated from its physical counterpart, spiritual energy could no longer form chakra. But what exactly happen to it?

"**The answer is simple."** Kurama stated, even before Naruto had the chance to voice his curiosity. **"Spiritual energy's source is the human's soul. Wherever the soul goes to, spiritual energy is sure to follow. We can only assume that, using your remnant spiritual energy as a medium, reiryoku began to expand inside you and act as a replacement for the overall chakra you used to have."**

'_So…in a sense, after I died, my chakra is only half of what it used to be. So when I received reiryoku, I regained my full power again?'_ Naruto made a confused face at that. _'Wait, uh…I can't say it's chakra then, since it's now all spiritual power.'_

Well, certainly, he couldn't actually refer to his energy source as "chakra" anymore, ever since it got replaced with reiryoku. With how long he had been using chakra in his body, it wasn't surprising that he got confused. Though, there is another thing that puzzled him regarding chakra.

'_Hey, Kurama, you said that when I die I lose my chakra, right?'_ Naruto recited the fact. _'If so, then how come you still have it?'_

"…**That, brat, is a mystery that even I found confusing."** Kurama admitted sourly. He wasn't used to being unknowledgeable about things, and his state of puzzlement only served to make him uncomfortable. **"Let me state this first to you; I died along with you. For some reason, the chakra in me didn't get replaced by reiryoku like yours did, but it never actually lost its amalgam state anyway, so I can understand that. Question is, why? Why am I dead, yet I still retain my nine tails worth of chakra inside me?"**

'_Don't ask me that, I'm not the one who controlled something like that. I'd say ask Rika-chan, but she's not here to explain it.'_ Naruto said, sounding uncomfortable himself. However, he knew better than to make things more complicated than it already was, so he calmed Kurama with a few words, _'Oh well, I guess we'll just see later. It's not like something's wrong with you.'_

Kurama nodded, feeling better after hearing Naruto's nonchalant words. He never was the type to worry about complicated things – the same goes for his blockheaded container – so he was actually pretty grateful for Naruto's calming gesture. Even so, the action was mildly out of character for the blond, so Kurama decided to use that. **"Well, it's not like I can discuss such difficult matters with you, brat. With how small your brain is, even in comparison to other humans, I doubt you can keep up!"**

Ignoring Kurama's accompanying laughter (which annoyed the hell out of him), Naruto settled back to observing his surroundings. He better find something to get his mind off the annoying nine-tailed fox, otherwise he would go three-tails and break into a hissy fit with a chance of flying tantrums. As much as the idea appealed Kurama, Naruto chose the safe path.

Surprisingly, his conversation with his Bijuu didn't take as long as he thought. To be frank, it didn't even reach a minute; proven when the blond looked back at the clock and it read 18.59. In-mind talk does proceed quicker than normal, or at least that's how he saw it.

"*Sigh*…one more minute, huh?" Naruto muttered to himself. One minute; the word itself marked the short span of time between the present and the future, yet it felt like it would feel like an eternity of waiting Iwasawa's band performance to go on. "Hurry up, Masami-chan. Otherwise I'll have to resort to prank this whole hall."

* * *

_At the meantime…_

* * *

While Naruto was pacing around in anxiety, the Girls Dead Monster members were busy setting up their stage behind the wide red curtain covering the stage. Nothing too fancy, just tuning some instruments here and there. Irie made sure that she was extra careful when checking over her drum set, otherwise any audience outside would hear the drums and the surprise wouldn't be so much.

The one who might be busier than others could be and should be Iwasawa, who was busying herself with propping her favorite acoustic guitar on a velvet-red cushioned chair positioned at the back of the stage. Her electric guitar seemed fine when she tuned it, so she had the time to do menial things like this.

Though, this wasn't menial by any chance. The acoustic guitar now sitting in front of her was what started her journey, the source of it all. When she had found it lying among the heap of junk back when she was still alive… She didn't understand how, but she just knew that it was more than just a simple guitar. Iwasawa smiled to herself. "You get a special seat." She said to her guitar, knowing that it wouldn't give her a reply.

She stood up and turned around, slinging her electric guitar around her shoulder before walking towards the front edge of the stage, right in front of a microphone stand. "It's time." She said to She took a deep calming breath, steadying her stiff nerves. Basic stage fright was nothing that she couldn't handle. Being a performer for as long as she can remember, overcoming stage fright was elementary for a person such as Iwasawa Masami.

And she was certain that her friends behind her were the same in that regard.

"Alright." she started enthusiastically, "Let's put on a show!"

Then, with a powerful strum to her guitar and the rise of the red curtain, the concert began.

* * *

_Meanwhile…  
Angel Area Infiltration Team_

* * *

Yuri's infiltration team consisted of several people. Some were blockheads with enough individual force for team resistance should they meet up with an obstacle or two (Noda, Hideki, Matsushita 5th Dan), the brain of the team obviously goes to Takeyama-kun (Christ!), and Otonashi (he didn't fit any category). With a team like that, infiltrating the girls' dorm was easier than pie; more so when more than half of its inhabitants were busy attending GirlDeMo's concert.

Eh? Wait, girls' dorm?

That kind of thought penetrated Otonashi's mind when he first got a hold of where they exactly were. Unfortunately, he couldn't say anything he had in mind as he himself was curious about what they were supposed to do. After all, he could be wrong. He optimistically reasoned with himself that perhaps 'Angel Area' resided someplace secretly hidden in the girls' dorm…probably.

He steeled his nerves with a simple "Let's do this." phrase to himself.

However, he grew more and more skeptic as they ascended through the stairs, stopped in front of a normal-looking door, and let Matsushita 5th Dan pick on the door lock like a professional thief. And it opened rather quickly, in his opinion. Who knew the big guy can actually do things like that? Back to the matter at hand, though, as the infiltration team…well, infiltrated the mysterious room, Otonashi's skeptic level was already sky-high.

"Clear!"

"Clear!"

Both calls came from the Blockhead Frontier of the team (i.e. Noda and Hideki). Yuri finally came in, looking over the dark room with mild nostalgia. Well, she'd been here for several times now, so it's only natural. "Alright, infiltration successful." She said.

"Ha?" Otonashi let out.

"Angel Area infiltration." Yuri simply answered, as if it wasn't obvious enough. "Close the door already!"

Otonashi neither complied nor responded verbally, but he did close the door with a poker face. He heard Yuri telling Takeyama something regarding the computer, which the bespectacled boy responded with a polite request to call him Christ. Not surprisingly, the request went unnoticed.

"No, I mean…this is…" Otonashi started as he began to realize that his team members were either desperate or…just a bunch of lunatics. He pressed the light switch, turning the lamp on and enlightening the room, and thus revealed…

"This is just a normal girl's room! We're trespassing!"

The other members wore a look of surprise when Otonashi turned on the lights, which practically made their presence visible had anyone been seeing them at that moment. Mortified by that miniscule chance, Matsushita immediately berated the red-haired boy, "What the hell are you doing? This is the girls' dorm! Turn off the lights!" It seemed that the big-statured teenager ignored the fact that this **was **a girls' dorm, and yes, they were trespassing.

Hideki sighed aloud and palmed his face. He knew something like this would occur sooner or later. Otonashi was still too naïve to understand the way they work here.

"And 'computer-controlled'? There's just one computer in this room for crying out loud!" He'd expected a high-tech facility with Pentagon-level security, not a normal girl's room **without** all that sci-fi junk.

The operation proceeded despite Otonashi's protests. Takeyama connected the computer with his laptop using a data cable before starting a particular program in his laptop, undoubtedly to crack the password set up to protect Angel's computer. Otonashi was introduced to the business end of Noda's spear-axe when he started to create a ruckus again. "What the hell! I was just starting to think that you weren't so bad, too!"

Unbeknownst to the amnesiac young man, his opinion about his newly-found friends will be an ever-changing subject.

* * *

When the curtains first rose, Naruto instantly knew that the concert was starting. Judging by the powerful strum of an electric guitar that followed the rising curtains, it was certainly a fact. He had expected the Girls Dead Monster to make a drop-dead amazing performance.

And damn, he wasn't disappointed in the slightest.

They were playing a familiar tune that he couldn't quite remember. He only remembered what song they were playing when Iwasawa began singing; lyrics regarding a certain 'crow song' flying out her mouth in a rhythm. "They're…really good!" Naruto exclaimed. He didn't know why he sounded so surprised; he should've expected nothing less. The band, Girls Dead Monster, played so well that they gave him cold feet for the second, without any apparent reason. They really functioned well as a team.

Naruto felt the edges of his mouth curving upwards into a full-blown grin. He couldn't explain it quite clearly, but…somehow he felt really happy. The feeling itself was strange; it was like having hundreds of butterflies tickling your insides. It left him breathless…yet, it wasn't a torture.

"I guess this is the miracle that you talked about." Naruto chuckled after releasing the breath he unconsciously held in. "Not bad, Masami-chan. Nah, scratch that…" He kept on watching, mesmerized by the song and how Iwasawa looked genuinely happy singing on that stage. "…this is the greatest miracle there is, dattebayo!"

But there was something missing, he realized. And as Naruto looked around, he noticed that the place was lacking some audience. He frowned and thought, _'Just this many when there's this kind of amazing concert? This can't be right.'_ There should be literally hundreds of NPC students watching the concert, perhaps more since Yui placed a lot of posters. And yet there wasn't that many people at all. _'I wonder if they didn't know about the concert…'_

An idea popped into the blond ninja's head and prompted him to smirk. _'Well, if they aren't coming…'_ He turned around and walked out of the hall, _'I might as well bring them in!'_ His first step out of the hall greeted him with an empty road. His trained eyes, however, showed him that there were other students at several different locations. "Well then…" He charged up his reiryoku and brought his hands into a cross-fingered hand seal. "_Tajuu Kagebunshin no Jutsu!_"

Multiple clones spawned all around him, appearing in a bright flash of light. All of them wore similar smirks on their faces. Naruto gave them all a one-over before looking forward. "All right! We're going to get as much people as we can to attend this concert and make it livelier! No matter what, we're not going to let Masami-chan's concert go unnoticed!"

"OOOOH!" A loud battle cry answered the original Naruto's briefing, and all of them brought their fists up in excitement. The real Naruto then cried out another order, "SCATTER!" And they all went off in different directions. The real Naruto remained behind for a bit, watching as his clones sped off with their designated destination in mind. He looked to the side and grabbed a Girls Dead Monster poster that happened to be stuck on a wall nearby. He looked at the poster, smiling as he did so.

"There's no way that I'll let anyone miss this." He swore with confidence. "Not a chance!"

And so, he ran towards the school building with the intention of spreading the news. Most students should've heard about the concert, but there might be something holding them back from coming. Whatever it is, Naruto was determined to pull their attention away from it with God-knows-what methods.

"Hrm…" He began thinking as he jumped from one spot to another, "I guess I can't just leave it to my clones to bring them all in randomly. What can I use to make them all notice Masami-chan's concert?" Obviously, even with the help of his clones, bringing all of the NPC students will be a chore. He needed something that can help him call in as much people as he can get.

That was when he got an idea. What about a broadcast?

"I bet the school has something for that." With that in thought, Naruto closed his eyes and began sending mental commands to his clones. It was a technique that he figured he could do not so long ago before the war in his world. _'Oi, guys, I have a plan. Look for something that can be used for a broadcast! Once you find it, dispel to let me know its position!'_

'_ROGER!'_ answered the clones. Now all Naruto had to do was to wait for one of the clones to dispel and transfer their memories to him. Naturally, they couldn't do it when they still retain a physical form, and they didn't function like the Six Paths of Pain which had connected visions with the Rinnegan. Waiting is boring, concluded one Uzumaki Naruto, but that was all he could do.

Then it came. A sudden rush of memories, one consisting of a door leading to a room, slammed into his conscience like a speeding soccer ball. Naruto held his head at the sudden headache, sorting through the memories to recognize the clone's position before it dispelled. He barely came up with enough information, though. The last thing that the clone saw was a door, a rectangle plate hanging near the ceiling with the writing "principal's room", and a gigantic hammer.

What was the last one doing amidst the memories, anyway?

"Principal room, huh? Hm…well, the clone over there was the first one to dispel, so I better go and check." He said to himself as he took off to that direction. As much as he didn't prefer to go to that place again (as it reminds him of a certain angry battlefront leader), he knew he would be wasting his time waiting for other clones to report about their secondary mission.  
He still wondered about that hammer, though. If it was the last thing that the clone saw, then it is most likely the cause of its disappearance. Perhaps an enemy was nearby?

'_Nah, that's impossible.'_ Naruto thought as he walked up the stairs leading to the principal's room. _'It could be something autonomous, like a trap. Yeah, like a trap! Like the one that Masami-chan said will hit anyone who tries to enter the principal's room without the pass—!'_

What occurred to Naruto's mind after that was something akin to having his head sledge-hammered, and his reaction was none the wiser. "EEEEH!? Don't tell that THAT'S what actually happened! It is, isn't it?!" He couldn't believe that he forgot about that one, and he was just an inch from turning the doorknob, too! If it wasn't for his speedy recollection, he'd be tuna-filling for a sandwich.

"A-Ah…that was dangerous. I almost activated it myself." Naruto said to himself as he chuckled nervously, "I must be really lucky."

The blond then stared at the door, wondering what he should do next. "If I can go past this door, then I can look for something like an intercom to do the broadcast. But…I don't know whether it's inside this room or not." He thought about it for a moment, shaking his head afterwards. He sighed, "That's wrong. I **know** that something like that is inside. I just… I mean, that kind of password…!"

Does he really have the guts to say it? To say something that cruel and contradictory to his beliefs? Maybe he does, but he wondered if it would be the right thing. Of course, he could just turn around and look for something else to announce the GirlDeMo's concert. His options weren't actually limited to an intercom anyway.

And yet…

"…"

He knew that it was just a hope-filled illusion.

"No God…no Buddha…no Angels." He uttered with regret. He felt something vibrate inside the door as he held the doorknob, which to him meant that the trap mechanism had been reset. He turned the doorknob and opened the door.

No hammer whatsoever attacked him as he did, but he still felt an impact in his chest. "Sheeesh…making me repeat those kinds of words…" he muttered. It had nothing to do with beliefs, he realized, but denying the existence of an existence who gave him his second chance of living felt wrong in numerous kinds of ways. It felt…bile on his tongue.

"Tch…I guess it can't be helped." Naruto entered the room with a faint feeling of nostalgic anxiety. "First I have to find an intercom..." His head turned from side to side looking for something that resembled an intercom, hoping that he didn't come here for nothing. Despite all that, he knew the one spot that had a high chance of having an intercom; on the principal's desk.

Be that as it may, though, it wasn't there. Naruto nearly lost hope before he noticed that the desk had a drawer. Feeling lucky, he pulled it and looked inside. It was then that he suspected a miracle worker was at work, because facing him from inside the drawer was a wired intercom. "OOH! I found it! It's kinda strange why something like this was stored inside the drawer…but whatever." He loosened the wire and connected it to a nearby electric socket. For reasons unknown, Naruto felt tempted to sit on the moving chair that looked so comfortable, but he didn't.

Naruto tapped the microphone part of the intercom a little, probably expecting to hear a thudding response like he usually did for normal microphones. Once he realized what he was doing, he slapped his forehead. He pressed the little button on the bottom plating of the intercom which turned on a small green light. Noticing this, the blond opened his mouth to begin talking.

"Ah, erm…good evening, everyone." He started lamely.

"**By the gods, even **_**I**_** can do better than that."** Kurama said distastefully.

'_Shut up! This is harder than I thought! I haven't planned anything to say to so much people yet!'_ Naruto replied mentally. If only he still had the boisterous mentality of his twelve years-old self, speaking through an intercom wouldn't be so much trouble. He took a deep breath and calmed himself before speaking again, "_E-Eto_…do you guys and girls realize that you're missing out on a concert? And I mean, you're missing it BIG TIME, folks!"

(Activate soundtrack: _Girls Dead Monster (Marina) – __Alchemy_)

He blinked. Yeah, he can do this! This isn't so hard after all! Naruto chuckled to himself, "I don't know if you're all a bunch of idiots or anything, but you must be a total blockhead to not notice the posters that's sticking everywhere. Girls Dead Monster is playing on stage, damn it! And you, what are you, working on essays in a stuffy classroom? LISTEN UP! Whoever's holding a pencil, drop it! Whoever's cleaning the classroom, drop your brooms and mops! Whoever's eating in the cafeteria, give it to Akimichi Chouji and be done with it! If you have some common sense in your head, then you'll understand this note: Girls Dead Monster, concert, sports hall!"

The image of numerous of NPC students suddenly going rampant at the announcement made Naruto grin like a maniac, and he was aware of that. He cackled for a bit, "What are you waiting for?! Move your sorry asses and let's hear them out! Girls. Dead. MONSTER!"

It was almost like magic (dark magic, considering the look on Naruto's face) when suddenly the school erupted in a mob of black and cream-colored clothes of male and female students respectively, who all ran in the direction of the sports hall. The dust cloud they left in their wake was impressive. Seeing this, a satisfied Naruto let out an evil-sound laugh, "KEKEKEKEKEKEKE!"

And the afterlife wondered if Hiruma Youichi had arrived.

Kurama looked genuinely surprised by how Naruto's announcement developed. He obviously didn't expect the yellow-haired idiot to be so blatant about it and even going to the edges of taunting. The fox found himself chuckling in amusement, **"Hmph…nice one, if I do say so myself."**

"Thanks. Now all we have to do is let the NPCs fill in the sports hall." Naruto then closed his eyes and sent a mental message to his clones to dispel. They did, and he was assaulted with a torrent of memories. Nothing much, but the mere number of it was enough to make him wobble on his feet. He ended up leaning to a windowsill for support.

"Woah…didn't expect that." Naruto let out in mild surprise.

"**You okay, brat?"** Kurama asked. He wasn't overly concerned about his host, but Naruto rarely gets dizzy after dispelling his clones.

"Yeah, just forgot to block out the clones' memories. I should be okay in a bit, but…*sigh*, I guess I need a seat." Naruto said as he plopped himself on the sofa of that room. He groaned and tilted his head upwards, staring at the plain ceiling in annoyance. "Great. Inarguably the greatest concert is in progress and I'm stuck here with migraine. Damn it all…"

* * *

_Meanwhile, back to the concert…_

* * *

Sports Hall

The song "Alchemy" was supposed to be the Girls Dead Monster's secret weapon. It was literally the undeniable, irresistible equalizer that will win back the crowd no matter the circumstances. This fact wasn't without basis, as "Alchemy" had never failed to raise the crowds' spirit.

It hadn't failed them even now. In fact, it succeeded in bringing more people to become their audience. Iwasawa noticed that she had lost sight of Naruto for the moment, but paid no mind to it. Considering the number of people now stuffing into the hall, there was a chance that he was hidden behind one of them. Now, the number was **that **astounding already, and Iwasawa was grateful for that, but then teachers suddenly appeared at the entrance door. The first one who entered seemed to be a PE teacher clad in a collared jumpsuit, followed by several others.

She tensed at that. They all did.

Supposedly, they were expecting this. After all, it was part of the plan to attract the teachers towards them so that the infiltration team wouldn't be found out. However, that didn't mean the teachers' presence wouldn't be a problem for the band themselves. Thankfully, the crowd was defiant enough to rebel against the teachers' orders to leave. It was unlikely that there would be trouble soon.

Of course, that thought was temporary. Following the teacher from behind was the feared student council president, Angel herself.

'_She's here.'_ Iwasawa thought. She remained calm even at the face of the Battlefront's strongest adversary and didn't let her surprise ruin her guitar play and singing. _'Everyone...give me more energy!'_

Her train of thought paused there. Immediately, she corrected that thought. _'No, no one can do that for us…'_ she thought again. She almost laughed at herself. Why would she ask for more when the spirit singing inside her was enough? _'We'll do it with our own strength!'_

Her strength…no, the band's strength was enough to overcome any difficulties. She wouldn't be borrowing somebody else's power for her own purposes. The miracle she created by singing wouldn't become one if she didn't do it herself. It didn't matter what she has to face. Whether it's teachers, angels, or even God, she won't let anyone hinder her from doing what she wants. In this afterlife, that same incident won't happen to her again!

Iwasawa's fiery determination fueled her singing, raising the spirits of the model students whom which her song had touched. And the song called "Alchemy", it became one of her many miracles.

Not all of them had their souls touched by said miracle. The teachers, even though they had to go through the onslaught of the students who were adamant on watching the concert, were like spears launched from a ballista piercing through a tsunami wave. Slowed, perhaps, but not stopped.

Amidst the crowd was Yui, who was there solely to immerse herself with the concert held by the very band she's a part of. However, as she was pushed aside by a random teacher whose spear-like trudge was dauntless, fear began to creep up her heart. "N-No…not now! You can't stop them!" she exclaimed not noticing how her voice was drowned by the many protests of the other students. "Please…just let them sing!"

(Deactivate soundtrack)

The Girls Dead Monster then realized that more teachers were creeping up behind them. The uniform that they wore had never looked so frightening until that time. Hisako was the first to fall; a teacher grabbed hold of her strumming arm and ended the music pretty harshly. She put up quite a good struggle, not surprisingly considering her attitude. However, against a full-grown man, she couldn't do much. One teacher had to restrain her by locking her wrists behind her back.  
Next following was Irie, who was literally a sitting duck as she was trapped behind her drum set. She cried out when one teacher batted away her drumsticks. She couldn't do anything but remain still as more teachers surrounded her.

Sekine, seeing her best friend in trouble, discarded the thought of her own safety and stepped between the two adult teachers and held Irie in her arms. "Don't hurt her!" She gave a warning glare, one that withered quickly under the teachers' own. She was always the feisty one, protecting her best friend when in trouble. It wouldn't change even at the face of so many threats.  
Thankfully, they didn't get hurt. The teachers simply made sure that they didn't do anything suspicious.

Iwasawa, on the other hand…

She got surrounded. Two teachers – one in white lab coat while the other in black – cornered her from both sides. Her singing had ended the moment the first of them stepped up the stage, but it was then that she started focusing on those two. She gave them a defiant glare while holding her electric guitar. For certain, she was not much of a fighter, but no one interrupts her concert and gets away with it.

"…I can't let you stop us." She muttered, "There are already too much people to give in now!"

She gave the two adults a warning swing with her guitar, intending to fend them off. However, she lacked arm strength to actually use it as a weapon. The moment her guard was down after a swing, the teacher with the lab coat charged in and brought her down to her knees while maintaining a strong grip on her wrists behind her back. Being put in such a fetal state like that made Iwasawa burn with anger, but she couldn't do anything.

Behind the stage curtains, a twin-tailed blonde looked at the situation expressionlessly. Concern was in her heart, though not necessarily on her face. She thought of reporting to her leader; as that was what she, Yusa, was needed to do. She was the only one able to inform Yuri of what was happening here, just as she did when Angel appeared. Knowing this, she pressed a button on the intercom in her ear and contacted her leader.

"The diversion team has been suppressed," she reported almost mechanically, "Angel is returning."

She heard Yuri cursing under her breath on the other side of the radio link before the link was silenced. Just as she finished her report, a strong hand suddenly grabbed Yusa's right arm. She glanced behind her just in time to catch a glimpse of a teacher's form before being thrown down to the floor. Drowsily, she opened her eyes and struggled to maintain consciousness. "The situation has taken a turn for the worse." She said, more to herself rather than anyone else.

* * *

Anti-Angel Headquarters (Principal's Room)

Naruto twitched.

Something was happening. Though he knew not of what the occurrence is, his instincts were screaming at him that it was happening now. It was a trait he picked up a long time ago as a Jinchuriki, though he might not notice it.

"…Okay, whatever that feeling was, I doubt it was just me," he concluded, "Did you feel that, Kurama?"

"**Barely,"** the fox demon inside the blond answered curtly. **"What do you think of it, brat? Obviously, you didn't jerk awake from your dreamless nap without a reason."**

Naruto wanted to deliberately deny that he was napping (which actually he was), but he was more concerned with that mysterious feeling. He breathed in deeply, as if the air was a calming stimulus that would sway his sudden anxiety. "I'm…not really sure, but it felt similar to when I sensed people's heart in my Bijuu Mode…." He trailed off.

His Bijuu Mode was something that utilized Kurama's chakra fully rather than his own, which back then concealed him under a burning cloak of yellow chakra. In that mode, he was able to use one unique ability that had aided him in the Fourth Great Ninja War; the heart sensor. The name itself wasn't exaggerated as well, since it really does sense the heart of every living being in range of Naruto's heart sensor's radius.

He lost chakra in this afterlife. Yet, that feeling he felt was frighteningly identical to what his Bijuu Mode usually senses. And that sensory ability of his told him that a lot of conflict was going down.

"…" Naruto closed his eyes. He tried to catch that same feeling again, suspecting that it had been because he was in deep, undisturbed sleep that he was able to feel it. He tried hard but to no avail, he still couldn't feel that strange feeling. Not able to feel it didn't help in calming him down; if anything, it made him feel more unsecure.

"I don't know what's going on, but I better go there and check it for myself. It gives me a bad feeling just sitting here not knowing what's happening." Naruto finally said as he stood up and went out through the door. Before he closed the door, he glanced back at the vacant room.

He had thought that he should probably tell Yuri or the orange-haired dude from before, but considering he had no idea where the hell they were he couldn't do anything but act on his instincts. Part of him said that he would be mingling with other people's business, and like playing with fire it will burn at him later on. Knowing this, he closed the principal's door and went down the stairs.

Next stop: Girls Dead Monster concert area.

"**You're being awfully nice to these people, Naruto,"** Kurama pointed out with interest. He had a playful smirk on his face as he peered at Naruto from behind the bars. **"Tell me, is there any reason behind this? They're just strangers to you, you know that."**

"…I don't think I have a reason," He said that, and it was the undeniable truth. Naruto wouldn't have any reason to help the Battlefront and anyone in it because that wasn't what he came here for. Logically, it wouldn't have mattered to him if they wanted to wage a war against God, fight an Angel with all their might, or if they wanted to reel him in as an ally. Honestly, they can do whatever they want and he wouldn't have to care.

There was this part of him, though, that told him that it didn't matter if he didn't care, that all he was doing doesn't have to have a reason behind it. Coming to the afterlife was his choice, and so were all the stuff he did ever since he got here. In the end, reasoning became half as important as a grain of salt when it came to his decision-making.

"That's right, I don't have a reason," Naruto fortified his earlier statement. "It's just a selfish choice."

"**I see…" **Kurama chuckled out. **"Then let's see what this choice of yours will bring along."**

Nodding to himself, Naruto leaped up high into the night sky and released concentrated amounts of reiryoku to literally jump from thin air to thin air as if they were physical platforms. As he flew and neared the sports hall, he caught a glimpse of silver moving slowly from the direction of the hall. _'Angel? She was there, too? Why's she going back?'_ he wondered. After a moment of thinking and concluding, he sighed to himself.

'_Don't tell me that the concert is already over...'_

With that in thought, Naruto sped up and dived down towards the entrance door. The moment he landed was also the moment he feared for the soles of his sandals as it bit into the ground a lot. He sighed again and wondered if he should get a new pair of footwear. Naruto then walked casually towards the entrance with only the thought of him missing such an epic concert burdening his shoulders.

"Geez… And here I thought I could see it 'till the end. I promised Masami-chan that I would, too." He grumbled unhappily. He walked through a surprisingly empty corridor, which was strange since if the concert really had ended it should've been filled with people exiting. Passing by a vending machine, he frowned as a bad feeling crept up inside him.

"Could it be…that it's actually a boring concert which lead to the audience being silent in disappointment and Angel leaving?" he hypothetically thought, but shook his head a second later. "Nah, that's impossible. Girls Dead Monster, boring? HAH! If they were, I wouldn't be so caught up in their play before…"

However, what he found as he finally made it into the hall was something else entirely.

The crowd was definitely loud. What they were shouting out was barely hearable, but it held little to no affection behind it. "They're cheering? No, wait, this is…" They were not cheering, even though their loud voice suggested as so. They sounded angry, if anything. At the moment, Naruto confused the reason they were angry for the band doing something wrong, so he stood up to his toes and tried to see the stage. He could barely see it through the wave of hands from the crowd, but there…

The band…the girls were being restrained by teachers. What's more important than that was they looked scared and cornered. Naruto couldn't comprehend it; did this all happen while he was away? He was sure that he wasn't out for too long, so how come—?

* * *

_Time Freeze_

* * *

Suddenly, the world freezes and turned into something one would expect out of a grayscale picture.

"Round one, start!" a girl's voice resounded.

"What are you trying to pull here?" another, more mature-sounding girl asked.

Appearing in a flurry of golden butterflies and blue wisps respectively were Lambdadelta and Frederica, standing opposite of each other. Lambdadelta grinned and answered the question, "The rules of our fight here is all about your cherished piece over here," she pointed at the frozen Naruto, "and how he will react to occurrences such as this."

"I told you he's not my piece," Frederica calmly said. "That aside, I think I have a good understanding about the rule you stated. I am to gauge his reaction and predict how he takes an action, aren't I?"

"That's right, but you can't just say that he will do something out of your pure whim. Let me explain this first to you," Lambdadelta then looked at Naruto before narrowing her eyes and smiled. "In this game, I am the user of the blue truth. My purpose is to defeat you by stating that Naruto will do something according to the knowledge I have on him."

Lambda giggled, "Fortunately for you, I have none. All I can predict is how a normal human would react to some situations; I don't know if Naruto will do any different."

"Good for you," Frederica said coldly as she closed her eyes. "Then? What should I do?"

"You are the user of the red truth. Your purpose is to defend accusations I throw to you according to the knowledge you have of Naruto. Meaning, you are to state the fact that will nullify my blue truth about Naruto," Lambdadelta explained. "Your red truth is effective as long as what you state is right, as the red truth only tells the truth. However, if you are wrong, it will become ineffective and I can hurt you, Bern."

"I see. So it's basically a battle of knowledge," Frederica chuckled mirthfully as a small smile crept up her face. "Sorry, Lambda, but as a saint that watches over the memories of the worlds, I have far more knowledge about him than you do."

"We'll see about that," Lambdadelta shot back with a taunting smirk. "Then I'll go on ahead! _[Blue] Faced with the guilt of being the sole cause of the Girls Dead Monster's getting restrained, Uzumaki Naruto's will is crushed and he will be destroyed from the inside. [Blue]_"

'_Crush and destroy… So she is indirectly attacking Naruto with the blue truth as well?'_ Frederica thought to herself. Then, for once, she smirked playfully at her opponent's verbal attack. _'Bring it.'_

"**[Red] Uzumaki Naruto's will is stronger than the guilt he carries! [Red]**"

* * *

_Time Start_

* * *

Then it occurred to him. The teachers might have come along with the students when he made the announcement.

That time, Naruto felt numb with guilt. With the concert stopped and the band restrained, that means Iwasawa and the others failed to achieve what they did this for. They had fallen right into the worst case scenario, and the sole cause of it was him. And now, judging by the circumstances, they would be punished in God-knows-what method rather than creating the miracle Iwasawa spoke of. Now, judging by how one PE teacher grabbed the acoustic guitar sat on a chair, and how Iwasawa began struggling harder under another teacher's grip, the miracle would be destroyed.

Moreover…he heard her cry. "DON'T TOUCH THAT!" With a final struggle, Iwasawa broke off from the teacher's grip. She practically lunged towards the PE teacher holding her guitar, but what she hadn't accounted for was the teacher behind her having better reflexes than she thought and caught her again.

The guilt, formerly residing in Naruto, changed into one final emotion; rage.

"What the hell is going on here?!" he demanded. His voice was drowned by the other protesting voices of the crowd, but he wasn't trying to get their attention anyway. With a growl, he crouched down and filled his feet with so much reiryoku that he felt it was going to explode. He released the pent up spiritual energy and shot upwards towards the stage. His target in mind? Well, he saw this annoying-looking PE teacher that he would be delighted to introduce to his foot.

Naruto hung in the air for a while before letting gravity do its work and pulled him back down. Using the momentum, he pushed out his right foot outwards and flew down to the stage.

Iwasawa, despite being in a state of focused anger, saw something coming from the corner of her eyes. Something was moving in the shadows of the dark ceiling, something fast. Before she knew it, the ceiling's shadow bled another shadow which struck the PE teacher's face hard, flinging him away like one would a soccer ball. The guitar in the teacher's hand flew away from his grasp, but a hand grabbed it before it fell to the ground.

The left hand of one Uzumaki Naruto.

The furious look on his face was frightening to everyone that saw it. His eyes, once a calming and goofy pair of sapphire blue, bled red with fury and hate coupled with a vertical slit in the middle of each eye. Teeth…no, fangs bared at the people who was restraining the other girls; at the people who **dared** to do so.

And those whisker marks…

'_God, what happened to them?'_ Iwasawa wondered. _'It's as if someone forcibly scratched on them with a rock.'_

Naruto glared at the teachers, alternating between the one in a lab coat to the normal-clothed ones and back to the downed PE teacher he had pulled off a Dynamic Entry on. On other occasions, he probably would've stroke a cool guy pose like the real Lee had, but now wasn't the time. These teachers, whoever they were and whatever they're trying to do, was trying to mess with the wrong guy at the wrong time for all the wrong reasons.

"Back off. This is their concert!" he growled out angrily. His grip was getting so tight it was a wonder the guitar's neck in his left hand hadn't snapped in two.

"Wh-What the hell?" the large PE teacher exclaimed as he nursed his broken nose. "Hey, you! The brat over there! Who the hell do you think you are?!"

"Doesn't matter, does it?" Naruto asked back, having no intention to answer the bastard's question. "That's supposed to be my question! This is GirlDeMo's concert that they've been planning to do since a long time! You got a LOT of nerves to mess with something they worked so hard for like this!"

It seemed that, somehow, the large physical education teacher managed to line his nose back to its normal position again. Growling at Naruto's insolence, he shouted back, "If it's just a concert for something like a cultural festival, it would still be acceptable. But this guerilla concert they're doing is something against the school rules! You students should just quit making such a ruckus and start studying instead, you deviants!"

Naruto gritted his teeth and glared some more at the man in front of him. "Study, my ass…" he muttered to himself.

"These girls will be punished accordingly to what they had done up until this time. I've been meaning to let it slide for some time, but this has gone far too long! The principal and student council will decide what to do to these stubborn brats. And as for all of you students who are here at this very moment," the PE teacher bellowed to the mass of people who were being held back by security, "You won't be excused! Neglecting your studies to watch this meaningless concert is against the school rules as well! You will all receive your punishments respectively! And as for you, Goldilocks…"

Naruto twitched slightly at the nickname.

"I'll see to it that I can punish you myself for breaking my nose," The teacher seethed angrily at him, his face close enough for Naruto to smell his dirty breath.

Arrogance was one thing that always made Naruto squirm in annoyance. Somehow he just had a natural disliking towards people who spoke of themselves as if they were higher than anyone else. His rivalry with Sasuke was largely based on this trait.

And yet, when the teacher he had happily drop-kicked spoke up to him and basically more than half of the NPC students of the school, he could feel that the teacher wasn't overly arrogant. The teacher spoke no empty words that arrogant people tend to say; instead he spoke words that were filled with his own reasoning.

'_That's right,'_ Naruto thought.

Instead of arrogant, this teacher was simply…self-righteous.

And Naruto hated that kind of people the most.

"Like I fucking care…" Naruto's right hand trembled and balled into a fist, tightening considerably as he yelled right in the teacher's face, "ABOUT THE STUPID RULES YOU HAVE!"

Naruto's fist launched upwards, hitting the PE teacher's jaw with a force rivaling a locomotive's. The hand was so fast that the PE teacher didn't even see it coming, and the impact was so loud that all sounds ceased as the blow connected, and the emotion behind it was so potent that Naruto didn't realize that he had cracked his index and middle finger's knuckles.

It didn't matter. His healing factor can heal any wounds no matter how devastating; unlike the PE teacher whose jaw would likely have a dent afterwards.

The other teachers chose then to act. Releasing their captives, they charged at the lone blond in the middle of the stage as their mind registered him as a delinquent needing some restraint. They never knew that this particular delinquent wasn't going to back down, nor would he bow to the rules they instated.

Left, right, they came from two directions at once. Left, right, they went flying away as Naruto batted both of them with a roundhouse hook and backhand respectively. It felt strange wielding Kurama's chakra again after so long, but his body had subconsciously activated it thanks to his rage state. Even in his no-tailed state, he was strong enough to beat the teachers like flies.

One teacher flew very close to Sekine and Irie; the wind blowing past them made their hair ruffle a bit. The other one skidded along the ground close to Hisako, who smirked at what was happening in front of her. _'Well, well. Now I see why Yuri wanted to make him an ally,'_ She thought. The other teachers just looked on, terrified, as the teachers that were apprehending the band members were being illogically defeated by a lone teenager. Those defeated teachers – adults who staggered to their feet – wondered what world does this powerful boy could've come from.

"All the rules that you have created can go to hell for all I care! The only rule I follow is MY _NINDO_!" Naruto stated loudly. He clenched his fist hard and glared at the unjust teachers, "If there's anyone else that wants to stop this concert because of some stupid rules, I won't stand by and watch idly."

No one responded to that. It was as if the ninja's words had a power of their own when spoken. For a moment, the crowd seemed ready to jump up in excitement when they saw that the teachers were backing off bit by bit. For once, those soulless non-playable characters seemed to be expectant of this kind of happy outcome.

But then, the arrival of an unexpected guest turned it around.

"Guard Skill: Hand Sonic."

The emotionless voice came from behind the silent crowd, which parted like the Red Sea as a small person walked through. Out of fear and respect, no one dared to stand in her way. Upon seeing this, Naruto couldn't help but balk in surprise. Of all people to appear, he didn't expect her to be that one person.

"…" he chose to keep silent at the calculating gaze of the student council president; the notorious Angel.

That silver-haired girl chose to do so as well as she walked towards the stage, her almost-transparent silver blades protruding from the sleeves of her blazer. Five meters away from the stage, she stopped and looked up at the blond Jinchuriki. "What are you doing up there?"

The question sounded so dumbfounded that Naruto couldn't picture her being more sincere than this. Therefore, he unconsciously lowered his guard and, unbeknownst to him, his wild facial features reverted back to normal. He exhaled slowly, feeling the after-effects of using Kurama's chakra creeping into his system. It wasn't exhausting at all; it was something more akin to what you'd feel after being in an adrenaline-induced rush.

"What do you think? I'm helping the girls start up their concert again," Naruto answered nonchalantly.

"I assume you know that it's against the rules to attend a guerilla concert in the middle of school time, let alone lending a hand to help." With such an accusatory sentence, Angel managed to keep a toneless voice

"It's alright, isn't it? You were here yourself before I got here, weren't you? That means you were also attending."

"I was only curious to how the teachers would handle the situation. When I saw them handling it as expected I didn't see why my presence is needed anymore."

Naruto frowned at the vague words. He couldn't really put it, but there was a sense of ambiguity in the girl's statement. Was she there merely because the teachers were? Or was she there because she was also drawn by the music? It was either of the two, but without asking, Naruto couldn't depict anything. The girl's poker face was just that perfect.

But if there was anyone that could resist Iwasawa's songs, he wouldn't be surprised if it was Angel. Rather, she was perhaps the only one with that immunity.

"So if they weren't handling it so well, what would you do?" Naruto asked with suspicion.

Without missing a beat, the shorter girl answered, "I would've interfered myself."

"I see…" Dejectedly, Naruto looked back at the mess he made. The band members were saved, but the teachers were another thing entirely. If anything, this situation will only conclude to a single outcome. "Well, they don't seem to be handling it pretty well."

That outcome is him, fighting…

"It seems so."

…against Angel herself.

With a sudden lurch, Angel jumped towards Naruto with her Hand Sonic crossed in front of her. Naruto, slightly flinching at the sudden movement, regained his focus and jumped back, pulling a kunai from his tool pouch. The kunai that had once held off Noda's stupidly big halberd clashed against the translucent blades of Angel and once again proved the strength it hid in its unassuming size.

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he and Angel locked gazes. He never thought that the girl he saved once would really fight him over something like this, nor did he expect that she would be this strong. So she wasn't lying when she said she was strong enough to fend off for herself against the Battlefront. Even when she stood a head shorter than the blond, the fact that she was able to keep their power in a stalemate was surprising.

"Why are you following those damned rules?!" Naruto questioned angrily as he kept pushing on the dual blades, "A student like you should understand that no matter what rules there is, a concert like this can't be stopped just like that! They need this—no, we all do! Shouldn't you feel the same as us?!"

"I have to follow the rules regardless of my own feelings," Angel answered calmly, her golden eyes boring into Naruto's own. "I'm the student council president, after all."

"Student council…president?" Naruto wondered aloud. She…this Angel is the student council president?

He remembered what NPC-Lee had said about the student council president being a girl. To think that he was actually referring to Angel, who was the Battlefront's lone enemy, was kind of stunning. Seeing from that perspective, it was logical to see the battle between them as a deviant group going against the school's student council. That explained everything, then.

But he still couldn't get why she has to be on the teacher's side. "Kh…so just because you're the student council president, you have to side with the teachers and help them stop this concert?"

"It goes without saying," Angel broke off from their blade-lock and stepped backwards, spinning forward with a swipe attack. Naruto blocked it, but only barely due to his left hand being occupied with the guitar; it left him unbalanced as he blocked the full force of a spinning attack with only one hand.

"But what about yourself?! What do you, personally, think about having to stop these girls from performing?! Doesn't it feel strange that a student like you has to stop this!?" Once again, Naruto questioned the girl's logic. He still believed that Angel is a normal girl with normal interests, so having her step up and do this was crushing that belief. He needed to hear the truth straight from her mouth.

"…" Unfortunately, no truth—or any kind of words in that matter—came out of Angel's mouth. She remained silent as she once again attacked, this time using a left hand cross slash to attack Naruto's defenseless left side. Noticing that she was targeting his weak spot, Naruto tried to dodge. But to do so, he would be sacrificing Iwasawa's guitar instead and it would be cut in half.

He didn't want to damage Iwasawa's belonging. So, with a grunt, he let Angel's blade cut his arm. It was faint at first, but the pain immediately rose and made him wince. He stumbled back and almost fell, but he landed with a crouch by pure reflex. His right hand covered the wounded left arm.

"You don't have to fight," Angel stated as she relaxed her stance. For some unknown reasons, she sounded worried just now, even though her face didn't show it.

"What did you say?" Naruto let out.

"My intention is to apprehend the band. You aren't involved with this, so step down." Angel explained.

The way she put it might sound unfair, since Naruto had a hand in the concert's progression (i.e. his broadcast), but her reasoning was logical to an extent. The ones who put up the concert were the Girls Dead Monster, not him. If he was a part of the band, she probably wouldn't have any qualms on apprehending him. But in this reality, he wasn't a part of the band, so she didn't want to fight him.

If she were to be frank with herself, she was…worried.

Iwasawa heard what Angel said, and in all honesty she couldn't bring herself to say otherwise. Naruto wasn't involved in this; he wasn't supposed to be involved, but he acted on his own and assaulted the teachers. What he exactly was, though…he was just a friend of hers, a friend who promised that he would see her band perform and hear her songs. A kind of person like that shouldn't be involved—

"Stop joking around…!" Naruto said heavily, almost like growling. The left arm that was trembling because of the wound was being clutched by his right hand, sandwiching his kunai in between his right palm and left arm.

There was a reason why Naruto hadn't done like Angel told him to. He thought that it was already glaringly obvious, but apparently his current opponent didn't understand. She didn't understand why he could back off and leave the Girls Dead Monster to their demise.

She didn't understand that he fell for the miracles they made.

"**[Red] I ****won't let you ruin****…THE MIRACLE SHE CREATED! [Red]"** The force behind Naruto's cry was impossible. Activating Kurama's chakra again, his eyes were just as red as the words he spouted. At that time, something cracked mysteriously, and all voices suddenly muted. None of the people present was even able to utter a single word.

Iwasawa's eyes widened in response to Naruto's cry. She stared at his wounded arm, almost gasping in disbelief when he forced it to close just by squeezing at the wound itself. Blood finally flowed down his left sleeve.

"I can't just stand by and watch my friends get taken away for something they wanted to do!" Placing down the guitar in his left hand to the ground slowly, Naruto gritted his teeth and moved his left hand to his tool pouch. "I promised… I promised that I will be there when they're playing, that I will be there and hear their songs that created miracles! NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, I WON'T RUN AWAY!" His left hand pulled out another kunai, and he cursed silently as he was reminded that there was only one kunai left in his pouch. "I won't go back on my words, no matter what or who I'll face! THAT'S MY _NINDO_!"

Momentarily stunned by Naruto's outburst, Angel could no longer say anything back. She was stunned in more ways than one. There was no sense of logic behind Naruto's words, that fearless statement of his. There was no sense on doing all this; defying the teachers, fighting against her, for the sake of a simple promise. In other words, it was illogical.

Such was Uzumaki Naruto's _nindo_, his ninja way.

No one could understand his way of thinking, so the people from his past just gave up altogether. They knew that Naruto's _nindo_—that illogical way of thinking of his—was what defined his person. Without it, he could never be himself. And now, the people of the present will realize that.

Iwasawa did. Or at least, now she does. She now knew that, no matter what, Naruto is not going to step aside and let anything happen to them. At the back of her mind, she knew that that was the miracle that would save them all.

In the depths of her heart, though, she knew she didn't want this.

'_Why?'_ she thought, _'Why must he force himself to do this? This…this isn't supposed to…'_

Personally, Iwasawa didn't want Naruto to die. Even though in this afterlife people would just revive like in some old RPG game, she really didn't want him to experience death. Her conscience as a friend wouldn't let her. She racked her mind, searching for a way to help Naruto and stop Angel, if such a thing is possible. Think, think, think, think, THINK!

* * *

"_Ne, Iwasawa, you should let me hear that new song of yours sometime!"_

* * *

The girl blinked. Her mind had just stumbled upon that one memory and her head had never felt so clear.

'_That's right,'_ she thought with realization, _'There's still that song.'_

In her mind, there was only one song that she can use in this situation; one song that can stop this fight and turn things around. But… there were risks in singing that song.

Problem was, Iwasawa put her all into that song. That one song contained all the feelings that had piled up in her heart throughout her life; a compilation of memories that created Iwasawa as she is. If she uses that song, she will…

'_Heh… Who would've thought, right? To think I'd be willing to go so far…'_ she thought, chuckling with irony.

Iwasawa silently rose to her feet, careful not to attract attention. Doing so, however, made the other band members turn their eyes towards her in curiosity. That was what she aimed for, though.

"Iwasawa, what're you doing?!" Hisako whispered harshly.

Iwasawa turned to her band mates and smiled, utterly confusing the girls.

"Hey girls… Can I ask you a favor?" Iwasawa asked to the others in a low tone, so quiet that no one except the band members could hear it.

"Favor? What—isn't this the wrong time to be asking something like that?" Slightly behind, Sekine asked in the same whispering tone.

"I know," With a nod and a small smile, Iwasawa answered. "But please, I need you all to do something for me. And…this will be my last request as your lead vocalist." Hearing that unexpected statement, the three band members' eyes widened considerably.

"L-Last request? What's this all about, Iwasawa-san?" Irie whispered in a questioning manner. She didn't like how Iwasawa said those words, it felt like she was saying goodbye all of the sudden. It sounded…so lonely.

Hisako had an idea of what her partner was talking about, and frankly she didn't like it one bit. "Don't tell me, you…?"

Iwasawa's smile never did disappear, nor did it even waver. If anything, it widened so much that she had to close her eyes. The reason for her closing her eyes might not be just that, as she was actually holding in the tears that threatened to fall.

"It's been a great time, girls. I know this sounds selfish, considering all the miracles you've made real for me all this time, but please…do me this one more favor."

She whispered her request to the others, silently conveying the message.

Her position wasn't what made her believe that she can ask them to do it. In fact, even as the lead vocalist, she doubted that they'd do it. Her position wasn't what made them nod half-heartedly nod tearfully to her and silently snooped away to the backstage area, because they wouldn't have listened to her as a lead vocalist alone.

However, Iwasawa was their friend. More than that, in the Girls Dead Monster, she was…no, is their comrade. Regardless of the audacity of her request, they would do it as her friends and comrades.

Just like what Naruto did for her as her friend, Hisako, Sekine and Irie would do the same. And now, just like Naruto did, Iwasawa will do the same as Naruto's friend. It would be only natural that she does so.

Meanwhile, Naruto continued to face off against Angel. If one were to look closely, however, their attacks lacked power. Every time Naruto slashed his kunai at Angel, it would either be too slow or it would lack strength behind it. It was as if he didn't have the intention to hurt her, but he stood to fight her regardless. Angel too, was attacking with hesitation in her every move.

Frankly, Naruto couldn't bring himself to actually hurt someone he had saved some time ago. It wouldn't make any sense if he attacked her senseless now. After all, he didn't want to be her enemy, but the circumstances forced him to fight her.

'_But damn it, how long can I keep this up?'_ the blond thought grimly. _'She may not look the part, but she's strong. Even though she doesn't look like she's giving her all, those blades of hers aren't just for show.'_

Naruto was so deep in thought that he didn't realize Iwasawa picking herself up along with the acoustic guitar lying on the ground near her. In fact, if it wasn't for her suddenly calling him out, he might've missed it completely.

"Naruto!" She called out. The boy she called shook a bit, probably stunned by the sudden call, before turning his head around and gave her a curious glance.

"What? I'm in a middle of a fight here, so I'd be glad if you don't…" His sentence trailed off when he saw Iwasawa, on her feet, with a guitar in her hand and its strap slung over her shoulder. "Masami-chan? What're you doing?"

"I…" Iwasawa started, hesitation clouding her thoughts as she turned her eyes to the ground. Somehow, she couldn't bear to look Naruto in the eye. Somehow, she felt guilty. "…I guess I really can't leave you be, huh, Naruto?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Naruto asked loudly, not understanding the meaning behind Iwasawa's words. He felt thankful that Angel didn't attack him while he had his attention diverted like this, but he kind of wondered why she didn't. He warily looked at Angel from the corner of his eyes to see that, indeed, she didn't look to be attacking him, or would be.

But now, he paid attention to Iwasawa. Strangely enough, she seemed to be…chuckling.

"Naruto…do you remember when I said that music can be turned into miracles?"

"Eh? Uh, yeah, I do, but why are you asking that?"

"Well…" Iwasawa bit her lip slightly, "The truth is I said that part based on my own personal opinion. I never really thought whether it could be considered a miracle by other people or not. To me, it really **does** feel that way every time I play with the other girls."

Naruto didn't really get why Iwasawa wanted to talk about this now of all times. He decided that he'd see for himself what she was leading on. "Are you kidding? The songs you sing are a real miracle to me. Though, yeah, I don't really get what miracles actually feel like; all I know is that it is when you can make someone smile." He saw Iwasawa looking at him with a wide smile, looking as if she was holding back a laugh. "Oi, don't give me that look! I know it's a cheesy line, but that's really what I thought!"

"Is that so? Well, then…" Suddenly, the lights around them dimmed. A slight humming sound resounded throughout the hall, as if someone's adjusting the microphone's frequency.

In truth, that was really what happened. When the Girls Dead Monster scattered, they already had their destination in mind. The control room behind the curtains was where every setup on the stage is being controlled from, starting from lighting, the curtains, and the microphones as well as the guitar amplifiers.

Hisako took it upon herself to adjust the microphones using an old-looking equalizer. It was turned down, probably by the teachers when they invaded. Her fingers made short work of it, and soon the microphones were on the right frequency again. Meanwhile, Sekine worked on the lighting along with Irie who helped her coordinate the pattern. First, the dimming lights, and second…

The second pattern was the highlight around Iwasawa's person using a lone neon lamp.

Back on stage, Iwasawa finally raised her eyes and smiled at Naruto, giving him an almost too sincere smile that took him aback.

"It's my turn to keep my promise."

(Activate soundtrack: Marina – My Song)

The moment Iwasawa started strumming her guitar everyone's attention was no longer on the fight between Naruto and the student council president. No, even the two fighting participants had their attentions diverted. Even Angel, who looked upon Iwasawa with emotionless golden eyes, dispelled her blades.

Naruto, for his part, didn't know beforehand that Iwasawa was planning to sing. What purpose would it serve? However, as he continued to listen, he realized something odd.

The strum, the chord, and the rhythm of which Iwasawa was playing her guitar with were different. It was slower, sadder, and more than anything, it was deeper. It was as if she turned into a completely different person; from the normally cheery and cheeky lead vocalist to a woman conveying the innermost part of her heart. Naruto's eyes widened as he finally realized what Iwasawa meant before. The promise she wanted to keep was…

"This is…her song." He uttered in shell-shocked surprise.

The girl began singing.

"_People who act like they have common sense are laughing.  
What kind of lie will they tell next? __  
__How can they treasure what they obtain with those lies?"_

Another person noticed what the song was. In the crowd, Yui, the unlikely Girls Dead Monster underling noticed that with wide eyes. "The new song…"

"_But we've got to move ahead, toward tomorrow.  
So I'm going to sing like this."_

She sounded tired. It was as if all her pent up stress and frustration led to this song's creation. Even so, she kept on singing.

"_You may be crying, you may be lonely  
But that's what being human is.  
The tears you shed say,  
'For giving to us such a beautiful, honest, and real life  
Thank you.'"_

She knew the pain caused be loneliness. Somehow, just from the words she spouted, Naruto could understand that much. Yet, despite knowing about that ugly side of the world, she insisted that she wasn't crying. Even if she was, they weren't tears of sadness. In this song, she insisted that her tears were tears of happiness, after being given such a beautiful, honest, and real life.

Even in this messed up world.

There were about ten seconds that passed after the last lyric was sung, and it was then that Naruto realized something wet was trailing down his cheek. Tears were leaking from his eyes. He didn't realize that he got pulled so far into the song that it shook his very soul this way.

"Masami-chan…you…"

Iwasawa didn't stop. She was still strumming the guitar's strings like it was her natural talent.

'_This is my life…'_ That thought permeated Iwasawa's mind, _'To go on singing like this…in front of all these people…and to create miracles…this is why I was born!'_

Her eyes turned to Naruto who was staring at her with teary eyes. She smiled sadly, _'Naruto… I'm sorry, but this song I promised you will be my last. I'm sure that someday…somehow, you'll find me and make me sing it again. But, when that time comes, I'm sure…it won't be my last.'_

Her hand dropped in one smooth sweep, ending her song slowly. A satisfied look crossed Iwasawa's face as she stared upwards. Never had she felt more complete after singing, not until now. That song contained her whole being, including her past. That she was able to finally sing it was a sign that she was already complete.

In this world of afterlife, "complete" would mean two things.

One is the end of the underlying regret that most of the inhabitants of this world have.

Second, it is the vanishing. Having finally getting over their regrets, a person will be able to transcend pass this afterlife.

And that was what Iwasawa went through. In a motion that was similar to passing out, Iwasawa Masami's life in the afterlife ended. With her regrets erased, she disappeared.

The disappearance was enough to make Naruto gasp out in surprise. What he saw was faster than any _shunshin_ he had ever seen. It didn't even take a second. In a blink of an eye, the lead vocalist of the Girls Dead Monster was just…gone.

"MASAMI-CHAAAAN!"

* * *

Frederica's realm

Standing pride in front of Angel Beats' Orb of Time was Frederica. In front of her was an impenetrable barrier of red that had successfully repelled a blue ballista spear that flew towards it.

The one shooting the spear was Lambdadelta. The witch had a smirk on her face even though she had failed in her attack. "Red truth, effective."

"Why are you smiling when you know you lost?" Frederica asked coldly. She wasn't happy that Naruto had to go through what he had gone through. If it wasn't for the sake of protecting him, she wouldn't have let Lambdadelta lay a hand on him.

"Why, I'm only surprised that you actually know your piece well, Bern! Or it could be a lucky guess, either one," Lambdadelta, upon her loss, didn't even flinch. "Anyway, you won the first round. No biggie, this means I just have to be more strategic in planning my next attack."

"Attack in any manner you see fit, Lambdadelta. It wouldn't change the fact that you have no chance of winning." Frederica stated, "You saw it yourself. Naruto alone can already deny your statement just through his actions. Coupled by me, you really have no chance of winning unless something short of a miracle happens."

"Hai, hai, you can say all that when you win the game, Bern." Lambdadelta merely ignored the blue-haired saint and looked at her fingernails. "But, really…to be able to use the red truth? This Uzumaki Naruto might be more than an ordinary piece, Bern. I almost feel envious that you have him."

"He is not my piece, nor is he anyone's." Frederica recited once again. She sounded confident, but even she was concerned when Naruto literally bellowed a statement, forcing enough determination and conviction into those words and turning it into the undeniable red truth. He just did magic by pure willpower.

'_I'm amazed. None of the Narutos before had ever shown such power…'_ Frederica thought.

However, even if he could use magic, he was still in danger if Lambdadelta was targeting him. She was a Great Witch that can bend reality and create a certainty by a mere wave of her hand. Only Frederica could prevent her from doing anything unwanted.

'_Then I'll fight. If only to protect him as I promised, I will fight Lambdadelta's evil intentions, even if I have to do it a thousand times.'_

Laced with such conviction, Frederica let herself smirk a little.

She will not lose.

**-End of Chapter 4-**

**-xo-**

#Re-uploaded in May 27, 2013.

When I first uploaded this chapter, it was still in its shitty state. No glossary, no teasers, no nothing. Though, yeah, those two are some features that I picked personally, but I felt like I'm leaving a hollow chapter the first time I posted it.

Let me say it again, I pulled an all-nighter for this chapter's ending. A fellow author told me that I wasn't supposed to do that, and I think I'll follow his advice in the future. However, for this particular chapter, I apologize if some things seem a little forced and rushed and sounds so abnormal.

Trivia Time!

»This story's main focus revolves around Naruto's interaction with the Girls Dead Monster, and thus leaving out the Battlefront's activity. Next chapter's going to turn the focus to them :D

»The Hiruma Youichi reference was purely for humor relief.

»Iwasawa's character perhaps sounded a little off, and maybe so are the other band members'. Truth is, I still couldn't get a real grasp on their character, and all I'm doing up until now is follow the anime and stem the characterization from there.

»Naruto's usage of the red truth is something I pitched in for story-related reasons, and it will always be unintentional. Rest assured he won't turn into a wizard or anything; I only used it to describe his emotion. Besides, if he ever intentionally uses it, he could screw Lambdadelta's magic all over.

-Next Chapter-

"You're going to enlist?"

"Is this that 'death metal' stuff?"

"I…guess I need some time to think."

"The upcoming ball game tournament's concept is baseball."

"Count me in!"

"HE'S ON THEIR SIDE?!"


End file.
